The recent developments between Russia, Iran and China, right after the easing of the anti-Iranian sanctions, might be more important and significant than people actually realize, American investigative journalist Carol Gould, currently based in the UK, said during a live broadcast on Iranian news channel Press TV.
The journalist was referring to the recent two-day visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Tehran and the outcome of his trip.
Xi Jinping was the first international leader to head to Iran after the trade restrictions were removed and capped his visit with 17 agreements for cooperation in areas including energy, trade, and industry.
The two countries also agreed to increase bilateral trade more than 10-fold to $600 billion in the next decade.
In addition, Xi Jinping signed a joint statement with President Hassan Rouhani in support of Iran's application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), advocated by both Russia and China.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1474"]
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani attend the Expo Center before the opening ceremony at the Expo Center at the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in Shanghai on May 21, 2014[/caption]Tehran applied for full membership in the SCO back in 2008, but due to international sanctions it was unable to gain full membership. Now, with sanctions lifted, the Iranian government said one of its priorities would be to get full SCO membership.
Russia is also boosting ties with Iran after an international nuclear accord was reached. The two countries have signed an agreement on the easing of travel procedures between the two starting from February.
Back in December, Russian Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov said during his visit to Tehran that Russia is interested in dialogue with Iran about the potential of cooperation in aviation, shipbuilding, energy, agriculture and transportation, metallurgy, pharmaceutical and other industries.
Carol Gould noted that this strategic alignment is based on trade, not on military might, and it definitely signals a way forward to a new alliance.
Also, she stressed, it might be very beneficial to China.
China needs some help at the moment, its economy grew too fast, the markets in Europe, the US, the UK did not produce much income for China, because those countries are having a lot of problems, she noted, adding that in a situation when some western banks might be failing again, or having a meltdown, similar to that of 2008, such cooperation might be very beneficial.
By Sputnik News
