Kharrazi discusses Afghanistan with Kazakh PM

ISLAMABAD (NNI): Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has laid stress on significance of the trans-regional gas and oil pipeline saying nobody could deny the importance of Iranian route for this project from security and economic point of view, reports Radio Tehran.

He made these remarks in his meeting with the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan attending World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Kharrazi said the best possible way should be adopted and the longer-term economic benefits should be preferred on political interests. Referring to bilateral relations, he said there was a great scope for enhancing the cooperation between Tehran and Almaty and called for concerted efforts to explore ways and means to exploit this potential.

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan described Iran as an important regional state and said his country attached great importance to its relations with Tehran. He referred to identical stance of the two countries on regional issues and welcomed the statement of Kharazi at the meeting that none of powers outside the region could address the problems of the region. The two sides also discussed Chechen crisis, Afghan conflict and particularly drug smuggling.