Doha: An Iranian business delegation comprising 70 experts and businessmen from the private and public sectors landed in Doha for a two-day meeting on Sunday, the first of its kind in 13 years, the state news agency IRNA reported.
The delegation was lead by, who said that during the joint-economic meeting in Doha, both countries are expected to discuss many of the outstanding issues, IRNA said.
“There are five committees that hold specialised meetings to deal with various issues related to trade, mines, customs, oil, petrochemicals, exports and banking,” Mohammad Reza Fayyad, deputy minister of industry, and the head of the delegation, was quoted as saying. “Close cooperation between Iran and Qatar is taking a new direction and [we are] moving towards strengthening of relations. Although the volume of trade exchange with Qatar is very small, trade exchange is expected to witness remarkable progress through appropriate planning,” he added.
The deputy minister added there was “no serious obstacles” to Iran and Qatar strengthening bilateral relations. IRNA said the meeting in Doha was the sixth so far between Iran and Qatar.
A quartet of Arab states – Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt – is boycotting Qatar since June last year due to Doha’s support for extremists groups and close ties to Iran.