OVER MEANING OF THE MOSCOW ATTENDANCE OF THE IRANIAN
PRESIDENT








MOSCOW, 12 March.  / RIA "Nowosti" Korr. /.  The Moscow attendance of
the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Sayed Mohammad Khatami
beginning today has a significant meaning in the relations between the
two countries.

It does not depend only on the fact that this is the first attendance
of the Iranian president on such a level in the history of the
relations of the Russian federation with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In the new conception for the foreign policy of the RF, which was
communicated in previous July, Iran is called as one the main partner
of Russia.

To an active partnership Moscow and Teheran pushes the dynamically
developing situation in an expanded region, which the large Caucasus,
which Kaspiraum, central Asia, Afghanistan and finally the Near East
enter, where Russia and Iran have historically their more frequent
corresponding national interests.  Many experts in Moscow and Teheran
stress that " Russia and Iran are condemned, mean to the production of
the strategic partnership " like Andrej Nikolajew, chairman of the
Staatsduma committee for defense, is situated it in the interest of
Russia to have in shape of Iran a strong state in southern direction.


Teheran is for his part the view that " Russia is an important partner
and a good neighbour of Iran, with which one all-round relations in
the interest of the peoples of the two countries develop must ".
After words of the highranking Iranian diplomat Hamidrsa Asafi " Iran
sees the process of strengthening Russian-Iranian co-operation on as
stabilizing factor of security and the peace in the expanded region of
the world ".

At the same time, experts of the two countries stress, are approaching
it for Russia and Iran to use the available possibilities for the
development of bilateral co-operation.  After their words the level of
the commercialeconomic relations does not correspond by far to the
status of political cooperating.  Thus the foreign trade conversion
between Russia and Iran amounted according to official specification
in the year 2000 to 600 million US Dollar.  As however Ambassador
Irans in the RF Mehdi Safari means, the two countries have a potential
to bring the level of yearly turnover sales alone on the area of oil
and natural gas on 1 to 2 billion dollar.

Not of approximate the contract over bases of the mutual relations and
principles of co-operation will become the main document, which the
presidents of the two countries will sign.  It will carry a framework
character and will not remove the today valid bilateral government
contracts.  The lines of business of the two countries connect plans
with the signing of this document for the extension and recess of
co-operation in economics, finances and trade.  According to their
opinion " the attendance will lend Khatamis of the development of the
Russian-Iranian relations into this to areas a new impulse ".

The presidents will sign also common assertions over strategic
stability, over fight against the terrorism, over international
security and will express their adjustment to such problems such as
nichtweiterverbreitung of nuclear weapons, adherence to the ABM
contract from the year 1972, extension to the East of NATO and role of
the UN in the international arena as well as to current regional
problems.