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Taking part in the meeting on the Russian side was Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Ahmadian, I am happy to welcome you to St Petersburg.

I hope that your stay here has been both useful and enjoyable. I know that a great deal has been done during your visit, in terms of your work with your colleagues, including Russian ones.

I should note that in recent years, friendly Russian-Iranian relations have gained additional momentum. This is largely due to the support of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. I ask you to convey my best and kindest wishes to him.

We appreciate that the new President Masoud Pezeshkian’s team still considers Iran’s relationship with Russia a priority, and we will be expecting him in Kazan on October 22–24 for the BRICS summit. I think we will be able to find time for a separate bilateral meeting as well.

As I have said earlier in a telephone conversation with the President-elect, we will be happy to see him in Russia for a full-scale visit, during which we will sign a new major inter-state agreement aimed at consolidating Russia-Iran relationship at the strategic partnership level. I think we will discuss this possibility during our meeting in Kazan.

It is also important to note that after last year’s decline in mutual trade, the trend reversed in the first half of this year, when Russian-Iranian trade grew by almost ten percent.

The work of the intergovernmental commission is of particular value now. Russia has appointed a new representative, and we are waiting for Iran’s new Cabinet of Ministers to decide on the appointment of his Iranian counterpart.

The North-South transport corridor project is one of our priorities. We have revisited it many times and are working on it now. Once again, I reaffirm my interest in the implementation of this major project.

There are many other topics that are certainly of interest and importance to Iran and Russia alike.

I would like to reiterate that we are determined to move along all these avenues.

Welcome again.

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Ahmadian (retranslated): I would also like to convey warm greetings to you from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and from our country’s President, Mr Pezeshkian.

As was mentioned, there have been no changes in Iran’s relations with Russia and their progress. We have a number of issues for discussion on the comprehensive bilateral agenda.

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