Iran assures B'desh of coop in oil, petro sectors

Dhaka, Mar 11: Iran today assured Bangladesh of consideringcooperation in oil and petrochemical, particularly in Liquid PetroleumGas (LPG) sector.

''As a logical decision and as a base, the issues of oil andpetrochemical are considered in Iran and naturally LPG is one of theelements being considered,'' Iranian Ambassador Hassan Farahzandeh toldreporters after meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Affairs AdvisorIftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.

The new Iranian Ambassador mentioned the Ministerial meetingbetween the two countries in Tehran last year when the two sides signedan MoU for expanding cooperation in different areas for mutual benefit.

''There are lot of issues in the MoU to be followed,'' he said,adding they discussed ways of expanding economic and culturalactivities between the two ''brotherly'' countries.

Referring to many commonalties in language and culture betweenthem, the Ambassador said more than 8,000 Persian words were used inBengali vocabulary.

Asked about the UN sanction on Iran for its nuclear enrichmentprogramme, Mr Farahzandeh said, ''Sanction is not a new word or actionagainst Iran.'' He said during 25 years of life of Islamic Republic ofIran, ''we are still experiencing this sanction everyday and still thesanction exists.'' The Ambassador said people may suffer from thesanction but ''I am afraid others may suffer more economically.'' Heconveyed Iranian Foreign Minister Manucheher Muttaki's invitation tothe Advisor to visit Iran.

Mr Chowdhury said they had discussed bilateral issues of mutualinterest and agreed to identify the areas very soon where the twocountries would cooperate.

Asked about Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA) between the twocountries, he said it was too early to make any remarks about it, butadded that they would consider cooperation across the broader possiblespectrum.

In the international arena, he said Iran and Bangladesh had been ''partners and friends''.

On Iran's nuclear programme, the Advisor said, ''We are veryclosely following it and we are very pleased to note that Iran has beenvery cooperative.

''We see Iran as an important player in the international arenaand even in the situation of Iraq, Iran is playing a role and we hopethat will ultimately lead to the stabilisation of Iraq,'' Mr Chowdhuryadded.

UNI