FM: Tehran Ready to Further Expand Ties with Budapest

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a meeting with outgoing Hungarian Ambassador to Tehran George Busztin underlined Tehran's readiness to further develop relations with Budapest.
During the meeting on Saturday, Salehi referred to the two countries' existing potentials and capacities, and stressed Iran's preparedness to boost mutual cooperation with Budapest.

The Hungarian envoy, for his part, expressed the hope that the relations between the two countries would expand further, and submitted a letter from the Hungarian foreign minister to Salehi.

In his letter, Janos Martonyi has appreciated Tehran for its cooperation with the EU during Hungary's presidency over the block.

Iran has improved economic ties and exchanges with the EU in recent months.

Earlier today, a report by Eurostat said that the value of the European Union's imports from Iran has reached 4.02bln euro during the first four months of 2011.

The Eurostat said in its latest estimate that the figure shows a 1.8% growth compared with the same period last year.

Also an earlier report by the Eurostat said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has supplied over 4 percent of the European Union's need to crude oil in the first three months of 2011.

According to Eurostat estimates, the 27-member bloc has imported a total volume of 896.13 million barrels of crude oil during the first three months of 2011.

Iran has supplied about 4.39% of EU's crude demands with 39.322 million barrels during the said period, the report mentioned.

It also added that the total value of Iran's crude exports to the EU amounted to $4.021billion during the period.