China and Iran seek to boost infrastructure and energy links as cooperation agreement comes into force

Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Hossein Amirabdollahian say the 25-year deal, signed last year, is now being implemented

Beijing also signals its support for Iran in the latest round of nuclear talks and says the US is responsible for the current impasse

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China is a major buyer of Iranian oil, giving Tehran an economic lifeline. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00pm, 15 Jan 2022

China and Iran announced plans for cooperation in areas such as energy and infrastructure on Friday as they officially launched a 25-year cooperation agreement.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also told his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian in the eastern city of Wuxi that Beijing continued to back efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that the United States withdrew from in 2018.

The landmark China-Iran comprehensive cooperation agreement, signed in March last year and which moved into its implementation phase on Friday, will see the two countries expand cooperation on energy, infrastructure, production capacity, science and technology, and medicine and health care, according to a statement from China’s foreign ministry.

Bilateral cooperation will also be expanded to third-party markets, and in areas including agriculture, fisheries and cybersecurity, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges, according to the statement which did not give further details.