Envoy: China Defiant Of West Pressures Develops Ties With Iran

Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Nov 7, IRNA – Chinese ambassador to Tehran said that China government is under pressure by western countries, because of its close relations with Iran, but defiant of the pressures will develop its ties with Tehran. Yu Hongyang in a meeting with Kurdistan Governor General Alireza Shahbazi here on Tuesday evening called Iran as one of the best friends of his country, adding that to strengthen ties with Iran, China is supporting Chinese companies which are working in Iran. Referring to 45 billion-dollar trade exchanges between China and Iran in the past year, the ambassador said that by considering potentials of different provinces of Iran China is going to increase this figure. Hongyang continued in addition to private companies, currently there are more than 70 state Chinese firm working in Iran, and by establishing more relations with provinces the number of the companies will increase. He called Kurdistan province as a beautiful place with great capacity and said that in his visit with cooperation of provincial economic and cultural activists he is trying to prepare ground for Chinese companies to invest in the region. The governor general talked about historical background of mutual ties and said that the two countries were interested very much to establish relations with each other and after victory of Islamic revolution these ties expanded. Shahbazi expressed Kurdistan province readiness for more investment of Chinese companies and said that the government for development of Kurdistan is supporting foreign investment in this region. He referred to tourist capacity, existing rich mines of ore, gold, copper and agricultural capacities and called for Chinese companies investment in these fields./end