By Vestnik Kavkaza
The world powers and Tehran have put on hold negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program at expert level during the western Christmas period. They should gather again ahead of New Year to settle practical details of the agreement, which makes Iran stop nuclear developments. And now Iran has time to think about other problems.
Mehdi Sanai, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation, told Vestnik Kavkaza, commenting on the Iranian position toward Eurasian economic integration: “Every country has the right to make independent decisions – to join any union or not. For example, Iran respects Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union and we hope for the success of the union, as its neighbors. Of course our country will cooperate with the CU in the future. At the moment Tehran is working on certain plans on cooperation with the Customs Union.”
The ambassador noted that a decision on Iran joining the CU wouldn’t be made in the near future due to the diversified integration interests of the country. “There is no such a decision, as Iran is interested in cooperation with the countries of the whole region. However, there will be contacts with the Customs Union and the Foreign Ministry of Iran and other structures are working on this,” Mehdi Sanai said.
According to him, Iran plans to construct gas pipelines for gas export, but the country hasn’t decided yet in what direction it will export gas. “There are various plans in the west and in the south of Iran, but the agreement with Syria and Iraq on the south gas pipeline is more acute for us. There were negotiations on the westerly direction, and I think it will be developed in the future,” the Iranian ambassador to Moscow stressed.
Meanwhile, according to him, one of the problems of Iranian-Russian relations is preparing the appropriate personnel, i.e. those professionals who speak the necessary languages and are interested in improving relations. “In order to eliminate this vacuum in Iran, we have undertaken many effective measures, including the creation of a Department of Russian Studies. The graduates of our department work in various departments and ministries of Iran. I have seen them here in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, they continue their studies, and some of them work at our embassy or in other offices of the Iranian authorities which are located here in Moscow. In general, relations between Iran and Russia are developing in various fields. There is interest in getting to know Russia, to learn more about Russia. This level is now rising, in any case, we hope that tourism will grow, and we will also increase the level of exchange of delegations in the field of culture and education. We will try to strengthen this sector. The fund "Russian World" also expressed a desire to establish an office in the University of Tehran. The first step for two people to get to know each other better is exactly the creation of such assumptions,” Mehdi Sanai stated.
