TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined Tehran's enthusiasm for the further expansion of ties with Beijing, specially in defense, aerospace and new technological fields.


Rouhani made the remarks in Shanghai on Thursday, addressing a group of Chinese scholars and elites.

He urged the Iranian and Chinese research centers to develop strategies for setting long-term relationships based on mutual interest.

Pointing to Iran-China age-old relations, he underlined that the Silk Road should be revived to make the regional nations closer to each other.

Rouhani noted that Iran is seeking to expand its all-out ties with Beijing.

Before heading to Shanghai on Tuesday morning to participate in the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Rouhani said "relations with China are important to us since Iran's economic ties have for years been directed towards the East, including India, Japan and China".

The president stressed the good ties between Iran and China in industrial, technological and energy sectors, and called for the further reinvigoration of the bilateral ties between the two great states.

Earlier this month, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan visited different aerospace and military centers in China during his three-day stay in the big Asian state.

Dehqan visited China's astronavigation center which ranks third in the world and has sent tens of astronauts to the space by now, and was informed of the activities of its different sections, its latest achievements and the future plans.

He also paid visits to the military bases of division 24 of Chinese air force, infantry brigade and the Chinese ground force's brigade 196 and became familiar with their training and operational activities.

The Chinese infantry forces displayed their operational-combat power by staging military exercises in the presence of the Iranian minister.

By Fars News Agency

 

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