TEHERAN, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - The new government of Iran is interested in developing cooperation and building good neighborly and mutually advantageous relations with Russia, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council said Saturday. Igor Ivanov is currently visiting Iran on the invitation by Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani to discuss a wide range of bilateral and topical international issues. "Both countries maintain an active political dialog. Particularly, the speaker of the Iranian parliament is expected to come to Russia until the end of this year" Ivanov said. He added that his talks in Iran were the first large-scale consultations with the new Iranian leadership.
Ivanov said Russia could help Iran resume talks with the European troika (Great Britain, France and Germany) to settle the issue of the Iranian nuclear program. He added that there were still possibilities to involve the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, in this process. "This dialog could be continued to resolve all unsettled issues on Iran's previous programs and continue cooperation in the implementation of peaceful nuclear programs," Ivanov said.
The Secretary of the Russian Security Council said that Russia and Iran were also interested in more active efforts to settle the political situation in Iraq, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Ivanov also spoke about cooperation between Russia and Iran within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. He said Russia supported Iran's request to participate in the SCO work as an observer.
Ivanov said that the Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP), which Russian companies are building in Iran, was more than 80% complete. During the talks, the Iranian side expressed the desire that the construction of the Bushehr NPP should be completed in the coming months, Ivanov said.
Speaking about trade and economic relations, Ivanov said that bilateral trade totaled more than $2 billion. "Our trade and economic relations are steadily developing. There are some projects whose implementation will boost our cooperation in this sphere," Ivanov said.
