TEHRAN, May 29 (RIA Novosti, Nikolai Terekhov) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami announced that Iran was interested in development of relations with Russia in all spheres.

Iranian President's press service told RIA Novosti on Saturday, during the meeting between Khatami and new Iranian Ambassador to Russia Gholam Reza Ensari, the Iranian president pointed out the significant role played by Russia on the global arena and said, "[Russia] is an important partner of the Islamic Republic of Iran and we are interested in the development of bilateral relations with this country in all spheres."

"I must emphasize high potential of the two countries in the development of cooperation and mention positive experience of its development and strengthening in recent years," the Iranian president said.

"The technological and industrial spheres are strong points of our economic cooperation and form a solid basis of interaction between Moscow and Tehran on the global and regional levels," he added.

Gholam Reza Ensari is an experienced diplomat. Prior to his appointment to the post of ambassador to Russia, he headed the department for Eastern Asia at the Iranian foreign ministry, and earlier he was a member of diplomatic staff at the Iranian embassy in Great Britain.