Romania attaches great importance to ties with Iran

Bucharest attaches great and special importance to its relations with Tehran, Romanian Envoy to Iran Christian Teodorescu said on Tuesday. “The Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys a special position in Romania’s foreign policy,” Teodorescu said in a meeting with Chairman of Iran-Romania Parliamentary Friendship Group Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi in Tehran today. He referred to the abundant opportunities existing for the further expansion of the relations between Iran and Romania, and said, “I hope that we can witness development of bilateral friendly ties in different sectors through the expansion of parliamentary contacts between the two countries’ legislatures.” In relevant remarks late in September, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Romanian counterpart Titus Corlatean hailed the existing bilateral relations between Tehran and Bucharest, and called for the further expansion of their countries' mutual cooperation in all fields. In a meeting held on the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly Session in New York, the two top diplomats discussed new ways for bolstering the bilateral relations between the two friendly states in all fields, including cultural interactions. Zarif voiced Tehran's readiness to further widen Iran's mutual cooperation with Romania in various fields. The Romanian foreign minister, for his part, welcomed resumption of the talks between Iran and the six world powers, describing the negotiations as important. Romania is a country located at the intersection of Central and Southeastern Europe, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the West, Ukraine and Moldova to the Northeast and East, and Bulgaria to the South. At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU, with a population of around two million.