TEHRAN, Feb 14 – Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, who is heading a high-ranking economic, trade, and political delegation, arrived in Beijing early on Tuesday, marking his first visit to China as well as the first official trip of an Iranian president in the past 20 years to China.
IRNA reported, quoting Al Jazeera, that Raisi and Xi had first met as presidents on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan in September. China had supported Iran’s now-successful bid to become a full member of the organisation.
Along with Russia, China has also signalled it supports Iran’s bid to join the powerful BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, Al Jazeera reported.
Iran’s president wrote a memo, which has been published by People’s Daily Online, one of the most important newspapers in China, underlining the need for expansion of mutual ties between Beijing and Tehran.
Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian deputy presidential chief of staff for political affairs, said the main goal of the visit is to finalise the implementation of the 25-Year China-Iran Strategic Agreement, which was signed in 2021.
According to Al Jazeera, China invested US$162m in the Iranian economy during the first year of Raisi’s presidency, less than Afghanistan and Turkey, according to an Iranian investment official. China, nevertheless, remains Iran’s largest trade partner, with Iranian customs data for the first 10 months of the current Iranian calendar year that ends in March showing Iran exported US$12.6bn worth of goods to China and imported US$12.7bn.
China also continues to buy oil from Iran despite the US sanctions, but exact volumes are kept under wraps, the TV network reported, adding that a number of companies that track data have said Iran’s oil exports hit new highs in the last two months of 2022 and had a strong start to 2023.
