Ex-FM: Iran-China deal lays out general path to partnership

Head of Strategic Council on Foreign Relations said a 25-year deal that Tehran and Beijing includes the general topics about mutual cooperation, not details.

According to Tasnim News Agency, Kamal Kharrazi said on Wednesday that the document on comprehensive cooperation between Iran and China is only a general plan and a roadmap to collaboration between the two countries in various fields in the coming years, which is why the text of the document has not been released.

“The document is not a contract or an agreement to contain details of cooperation between the two countries in the next 25 years,” he added.

Kharrazi described the document as a declaration of intent and a roadmap that steers the future cooperation in various fields, saying the document, as cited in a factsheet released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, includes the topics of long-term cooperation in the political, strategic, economic and cultural fields.

Asked why the text of the document has not been made public, Kharrazi said other countries have also signed such documents with China but would never publicize them, because such strategic cooperation documents are connected to national security.

Last week, the foreign ministers of Iran and China signed the 25-year agreement to develop cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

SS