RIYADH, 26 October 2004 — Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi will visit Saudi Arabia today in a new bid to boost bilateral relations and discuss regional developments, including Iran’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Kharrazi’s talks with senior Saudi officials will focus on the Iraq crisis, conflict in Palestine and ways to strengthen bilateral relations. “The visit is of great political significance,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in Tehran.
The visit comes at a time of growing Saudi-Iranian relations especially in political and economic spheres.
The diplomats noted a recent announcement that Saudi Arabia will set up a power plant in Tabriz in Iran on the basis of a BOT (build-operate-transfer) agreement reached between the Iranian Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and a Saudi company. This company will construct a 1,000 megawatt power plant.
The plant will cost nearly SR2.4 billion. The details of the project were not available. But, the general conditions have already been agreed for the Iranian side to prepare BOT contracts for power plant developments.
On the political and commercial fronts, Riyadh and Tehran have forged close cooperation. Last April, the two countries signed a long-awaited security accord to cooperate in the fight against crime, terrorism and money laundering besides surveillance on borders and territorial waters.
The two countries have upgraded their relations substantially since bilateral ties were renewed in 1991. Riyadh and Tehran broke off relations in 1988, a year after Iranian pilgrims clashed with Saudi police in Makkah during an anti-US protest leaving more than 400 dead.
More than 30,000 Iranian visas were issued to Saudi nationals, mainly tourists, this summer.
