Composite image - Left, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addresses lawmakers while defending his next year's budget bill at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, January 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi). Right, Chinese President Xi Jinping waves at an event to introduce new members of the Politburo Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, October 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will head to China within days for a three-day visit aimed at strengthening economic cooperation, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.
Raisi will set out for Beijing on Monday evening in response to an official invitation by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iran’s state news agency IRNA said.
Both presidents met for the first time last September in Uzbekistan at a summit for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, where the Iranian president called for expanded ties.
On his upcoming trip, Raisi is expected to hold private talks with Xi, and delegations from both countries are due to sign “cooperation documents,” according to IRNA.
The agency added that Raisi will also take part in meetings with Chinese businessmen and Iranians living in the country.
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Iran and China have strong economic ties, especially in the fields of energy, transit, agriculture, trade and investment.
China’s former foreign minister Wang Yi, right, shakes hands with Iran’s former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on May 17, 2019. (THOMAS PETER/AFP)
In 2021, both countries signed a 25-year “strategic cooperation pact” said to include “political, strategic and economic” components.
China is Iran’s largest trade partner, IRNA said, citing the 10-month statistics of Iranian customs authorities.
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Iran’s exports to Beijing stood at $12.6 billion, while it imported $12.7 billion worth of goods from China.
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