FNA- Georgian Minister of Education and Science Aleksandre Jejelava stressed that his country is strongly willing to further expand ties and cooperation with Iran in all fields.

Jejelava made the remarks in a meeting with Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mohammad Farhadi in Tbilisi on Wednesday.

He underscored the two sides' historical and cultural relations, and said such deeply-rooted affinity has prepared the ground for expansion of all-out relations and cooperation in various scientific and academic fields.

There is no doubt that expansion of scientific and educational cooperation plays significant role in prospects of cooperation between the two countries, Jejelava said.

Farhadi, for his part, said that Tehran is ready to broaden the scientific and academic cooperation between the two countries.

Iran is ready to award 15 scholarships to Georgian universities to ease exchange of university students and professors along with expansion of Iran-related studies, he said.

Tehran and Tbilisi in April signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to broaden their mutual cooperation in different fields.

The three MoUs were signed in the areas of sport, agriculture and information technology at the presence of Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili in Tehran.

The two countries' private sectors also signed a cooperation pact to construct refinery complex and tile- and ceramic manufacturing factories in Georgia.

The Georgian prime minister, heading a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, arrived in Tehran at the invitation of Jahangiri.

The visit came days after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's visit to Georgia within the framework of a three-nation trip that also included Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The two sides have called for cooperation in judicial, academic, transit pathway, banking fields as well as joint ventures, establishment of industrial estates and energy and gas cooperation between the two countries.

According to Zarif, the volume of trade transactions between the two countries has had a 50 percent increase in 2016 as compared to last year.