AFP/Tehran


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) hosts China’s Politburo Standing Committee Member He Guoqiang in Tehran yesterday
Iran and China yesterday signed a series of agreements worth $4bn for infrastructure projects as part of a broader bid to boost trade volume between the two nations, Iranian state media reported.
As part of a $500mn deal, China agreed to provide Iran with 60 energy recovery incinerators, which are to be installed within a year in major cities and in Iran’s northern tourism hub along the Caspian Sea.
The bilateral agreements span cooperation in water, mining, energy and industrial sectors. China also pledged to boosts its imports of Iranian mineral products, state TV reported.
“China is now the leading economic partner of Iran and there are plans for increasing last year’s trade volume of $30bn to $100bn in the future,” Iranian Vice President Mohamed Javad Mohammadi-Zadeh told state television.
The agreements were signed during a visit by He Guoqiang, a senior executive of the Chinese Communist Party, who heads a delegation visiting Iran. He was received by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Bilateral trade will reach $40bn this year,” the Chinese ambassador to Tehran told Irna recently.
China and Iran have become major economic partners in recent years, partly thanks to the withdrawal of Western companies in line with sanctions against the Islamic republic over its contentious nuclear drive.
Beijing, which now buys about 20% of Iranian crude, opposes the policy of the US and its European allies seeking to strengthen UN sanctions against Iran.