Iranian Ambassador to China Ferydoun Verdinejad suggested on Tuesday Iran and China make a long-term plan to step up people-to-people exchanges and increase mutual understanding.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency, Verdinejad said both China and Iran have a long history of civilization. The two countries share identical or similar views on many international and regional issues, especially on fighting terrorism, hegemonism and extremism.

He said either of them attaches great importance to protecting and developing its own culture and respects the differences in culture and religion of each other.

He said, especially in recent years, with the increasing exchanges of high-level visits, their economic cooperation has scored major achievements. The two-way trade volume in 2004 amounted to 7 billion US dollars, he added.

But there is still great potential in economic cooperation, said Verdinejad, and the two countries could enhance the cooperation in the fields of energy, mineral resources, telecommunication and tourism.

He said he hopes China can list Iran as a tourist destination for Chinese citizens so that more and more Chinese could know Iran better.

Verdinejad expected China to take an active part in international and regional issues that will be conducive to the bilateral relations and peace and stability of the world. China could exert more influence on the issues of Iran's accession into the World Trade Organization and the Iran nuclear issue, he said.

Verdinejad said, Iran and China are important countries in west and east Asia respectively. The Silk Road had connected the two nations since ancient times. "We can clearly see the importance of rebuilding the Silk Road, which can surely bring more stability and prosperity to the people of Asian nations."

He suggested those nations along the Silk Road should reconstruct it through strengthening the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

He said, the rebuilding of the Silk Road will help further the economic cooperation among Asian countries. Besides, it will also help promote dialogues among leaders of Asian countries and set upa new political framework in Asia.

Verdinejad, who achieved his doctorate degree on management from Tehran University, was appointed ambassador to China in 2001.

Prior to that, he had been the managing director of Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) for more than ten years, during which he visited China several times and played an important role in promoting cooperation between IRNA and Xinhua News Agency. He is leaving his post and returning to Iran soon.
 
(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2005)