BRI and CPEC are beneficial for regional development: Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan

Nowadays, long-term political-economic cooperation is a common mechanism for developing bilateral and regional relations. One of the issues that has been much discussed in recent days, is the Comprehensive Document of 25-year strategic cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China.

The Islamic Republic of Iran evaluates the promotion of bilateral relations with the People’s Republic of China by envisaging the international realities and the diverse capacities and capabilities of the two countries.

Further, Iran’s strategy is based on expanding and strengthening its friendly and constructive mutual relations with other countries, while denying any eastern or western hegemony in such relations.

In this context, senior officials of the two countries lay the cornerstone of relations by planning their long-term relations over a 25-year period.

This idea was put forward during the visit of the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping to Tehran in 2016.

The overall framework of the plan has been developed over the years, and details are being reviewed by officials from the two countries, which have not yet been finalized.

Iran-China Comprehensive Partnership is a clear roadmap and a guideline for future relations between the two major countries in the world. Bearing in mind the importance of China as one of the world’s top economic powers and Iran, a significant power in the West Asian region, the implementation of comprehensive plan can come useful in achieving common goals of complimentary relations, independence from traditional hegemonic powers and addressing common interests.

Fortunately, bilateral relations with the People’s Republic of China have been moving forward in recent years, and the two countries have reached to a considerable level of coordination and concordance in the international and political arenas.

Simultaneously, concurrent with the development of strategic relations between Tehran and Beijing, the enemies of the promotion of these relations are propounding false interpretations that are nearer to rumors than facts.

As one can see, such baseless rumors about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor are also constantly being raised by some Western officials and the media with an intentional focus on the secret nature of this cooperation agenda.

Iran-China cooperation is a very public issue and even in the sixth paragraph of the joint statement published during the Chinese President’s visit to Iran in 2016, the parties explicitly expressed their desire to conclude a comprehensive document for 25 years of cooperation.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with its constitutional principles, faces no barrier in concluding comprehensive and long-term agreements with countries in the East and the West. However, when some foreign governments are reluctant in their relations with Iran and need permission from the powers-that-be for even normal interactions, for sure they won’t be capable of planning and implementing such long- term cooperation contracts.

Iran’s offer for cooperation was a general one that was perceived and well received by China, as it has shown independence in developing its relations with Iran and has not tied the promotion of relations to the advice of any third party.

Undoubtedly, Belt-Road initiative (BRI) and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are suitable platforms for the development of regional cooperation, especially for the three countries– the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China– which can be a unique model for development not only for the troika, but as a model of cooperation for other countries in our region.