Iran and Spain will soon set up a joint trade committee to further expand cooperation between the two countries, said a Spanish official in Tehran on Saturday.
The head of the Spanish side of the committee, Manuel Valencia, told the official Iranian news agency (IRNA) that the formation of the committee would be realized as part of the agreements reached between President Mohammad Khatami and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. During Aznar's visit to Tehran last year and his talks with Khatami, the two sides reached an agreement on further expansion of mutual cooperation and bilateral relations.
Khatami and Aznar met at the UN headquarters in New York in September.
Valencia said that the joint Iran-Spain trade committee would become active within the framework of cooperation between chambers of commerce of the two countries.
He said a high-ranking Spanish economic delegation is to visit Iran next week to sign the agreement for the formation of the joint committee.
A 20-member economic delegation headed by Spain's deputy minister of economy in charge of energy and small and medium-scale firms, Jose Folgado Blanco, is expected to arrive in Tehran Sunday, IRNA said.
The decision to dispatch the economic delegation to Iran was reached following recent meeting between Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Euro-American Affairs Ali Ahani and senior officials from the Spanish Ministry of Commerce and Tourism – Albawaba.com
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