IRAN ATTACHES SPECIAL IMPORTANCE TO IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO RUSSIA








TEHERAN, March 5. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Yevgeny Zainabitdinov/. The Foreign Ministry of Iran attaches special significance to an official visit to Russia by President Mohammad Khatami of Iran which is slated for March 11. This was disclosed at a briefing on Monday by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.


	"We regard Russia as Iran's major partner and good neighbour with which all-round relations in the interests of the two countries' peoples should be developed," Asefi said. He also noted that "Iran views the process of strengthening Russian-Iranian cooperation as a factor promoting security and tranquillity in the vast region of the world." According to him, "during the visit the Presidents of Russia and Iran will hold talks on prospects for development of bilateral relations and cooperation in the political, economic and cultural areas, and will exchange views on the problems of the Caspian, the Persian Gulf and the settlement in Afghanistan and the Middle East, as well as on certain international issues. Apart from that, the President of Iran will hold talks with other officials and with religious figures.


	The programme of the Russian visit of Mohammad Khatami envisages trips of the Iranian delegation to St. Petersburg and Kazan.


	The official visit of the Iranian President to Russia will be the first visit of such kind in the history of relations between the two states since 1979.