Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is on an official visit to Paris, held a meeting with Chairman of the French Senate Gerard Larcher on June 29, IRNA reported.

“France attaches a lot of significance to bilateral ties with Iran and favors regular political consultations with Iran over regional issues,” Larcher said during the meeting.

Zarif, for his part, referred to importance of relations with France, saying that France is one of the major trade partners of Iran.

He also called for removal of banking obstacles between the two countries at the earliest to facilitate mutual economic and trade exchanges.

During the meeting, Zarif welcomed continued political consultations with France and called for more active role by Europe in settlement of regional problems.

Zarif also held talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian who described the meeting as essential, saying that his country will continue contacts with Iran.

French and other European companies have returned to Iran since the partial lifting of international sanctions in January 2016, when a landmark nuclear deal with world powers came into force.

However, international banks have not re-established financial contacts with Iran, due to concerns over Washington which has maintained some economic sanctions against the country. In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump has long been known as a main critic of Iran’s policy and nuclear deal.

Nevertheless, the volumes of French investment in Iran as well as bilateral trade are gradually increasing. About 40 European banks are working with Iran right now, two of which are French. France’s investment in Iran stood at 340 million euros in late 2015. The value of bilateral trade in 2016 was 2.1 billion euros, which shows a 235 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Iran, five permanent UN Security Council members, Germany and the European Union signed the JCPOA in July 2015 to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.

Then, the Islamic republic pledged to refrain from developing or acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions imposed against Iran.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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