Chinese President to Visit Iran Soon

(FNA)- Head of Iran-China Joint Chamber of Commerce Asadollah Asgaroladi announced on Sunday that Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to visit Iran in the near future.

"The Iran-China relations have been improved to a considerable extent and the upcoming visit of the Chinese President to Iran will pave the way for a rise in the two countries' trade exchanges," Asgaroladi told FNA on Sunday.

He noted that Iran and China hope to boost the level of their annual trade exchanges to $60 billion from the current $52 billion in the coming year.

"We are determined to raise the volume of our trade with China to $60 billion at the start of the Sixth (Five-Year Economic) Development Plan starting March 2016," Asgaroladi said.

He pointed to the role of the two countries' private sector in expansion of Tehran-Beijing trade relations, and said, "Iran’s private sector needs to make huge efforts for joint venture projects with China."

In relevant remarks in February, a senior Iranian diplomat said the country has considerably increased the volume of its trade transactions with China.

"The value of trade exchanges between Iran and China hit $52 billion in the first ten months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2014-January 22, 2015)," Iranian Ambassador to Beijing Ali Asqar Khaji said.

Khaji said that Iran's export to China witnessed a 30 percent growth during the said period as compared with the previous year.

Iran is currently China's third largest supplier of crude, providing Beijing with roughly 12 percent of its total annual oil consumption.