Zarif Hails Rouhani’s Bilateral Talks with Putin, Xi as ‘Fruitful’
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described Friday meetings between President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, as “fruitful”.
“With Pres. @HassanRouhani at #SCO in Kyrgyzstan. Important multilateral dialogue + fruitful bilateral talks incl. w/ President Xi & President Putin,” Zarif said on his official Twitter account on Friday.
He further deplored the US sanctions against Iran and wrote, “Unilateral US actions—incl. its #EconomicTerrorism on Iran—are solely responsible for insecurity & renewed tension in our region.”
President Rouhani held separate meetings with Putin and Xi on the sidelines of the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Kyrgyzstan on Friday.
The summit was held on June 13-14 with leaders of 11 countries, including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan and Iran in attendance.
Speaking to reporters before leaving Tehran for Bishkek for participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Rouhani had said that the important conference would discuss the regional security issues.
The SCO is an intergovernmental organization which was founded for multilateral political, economic and security cooperation. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and India are major members while, Iran, Mongolia, Afghanistan, and Belarus serve as observers.
Rouhani will leave Bishkek for Dushanbe on the second leg of his trip to attend the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
CICA is an inter-governmental forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security, and stability in Asia.