Tehran, December 6 (MRUD NEWS)—Heads of Iran and Syria Joint Economic Commission, Iran Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Mehrdad Bazrpash, and Mohammad Samer al-Khalil, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade of Syria, met today in Tehran to review the previous agreements and examine the new areas of cooperation.

This meeting will be finalized by the Prime Minister of Syria and the First Vice President of Iran in the coming week and the joint documents will be signed by both sides. 

In the meeting, the two sides informed of developing bilateral cooperation through implementation of previous agreements. 

Among the agreements, establishment of the joint bank in Syria has been finalized and its implementation will begin in the coming days. Also, the joint insurance that was agreed upon during the Presidents' visit has been finalized, and now both the Iranian insurance company and the Syrian insurance company are starting to work together, said Bazrpash. 

He further mentioned that the preferential tariff and zero trade tariffs between the two countries for 88 items of goods are now finalized and will be operational in the coming days through Customs.

Additionally, the free trade zone of the two countries is in its final stages. The places that Iran should have proposed for the construction of the free zone have been announced by now. In this regard, basic agreements have been made and within the next few months, the opening ceremony of the joint free zone between Iran and Syria will be held, Bazrpash added. 

Iran and Syria planned for the travel of 50,000 pilgrims in the next year and one specific airline is responsible for this end. 

In the energy and electricity sector, Iranian companies agreed to be active in both repairs and power plant construction in Syria and this is also in the final stages, added Bazrpash. 

In another part of his speech, Iran Minister of Roads and Urban Development, referring to the necessity to complete the railway from Tehran to Damascus and the need to expand rail transit, acknowledged that the Islamic Republic of Iran Railway Company is fully prepared to carry out studies on the reconstruction of railway damaged in Syria's war.

The Minister of Roads and Urban Development stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran will soon host the Syrian Prime Minister and said: "The High Committee of Joint Cooperation will be held so that we can have a better and more appropriate overview of the mutual cooperation". 

Condemning the crimes of the Zionist child-killer regime in Gaza, the head of Iran, Syria Joint Economic Commission said: in the days when we are negotiating to improve the quality of life of the two nations of Iran and Syria, the occupying and criminal regime committed infanticide and killed Palestinian people.

In July 2023, the heads of Iran-Syria Joint Economic Commission, Mehrdad Bazrpash, and Mohammad Samer al-Khalil, met in Tehran to follow up the agreements and 16 MoUs reached during the visit of Iran's President to Damascus in May. 

Earlier, heads of Iran and Syria Joint Economic Commission met in Damascus in April prior to the upcoming visit of the two countries' Presidents for finalizing mutual agreements. Then, there were intensive meetings including eight bilateral committees that have been held in different fields of cooperation in order to discuss agendas and finalize the MoUs.