YEREVAN. – Armenian Finance Minister Tigran Khachatryan is on a working visit to Iran, the Ministry of Finance of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Within the framework of the visit, meetings were held with Iran's Vice President Masoud Mirkazemi, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ehsan Khandouzi, and a number of other high-ranking Iranian officials.

During the meeting between Khachatryan and Khandouzi on Tuesday, a number of economic priorities between the two neighboring countries were highlighted—in particular, the implementation of annual trade of $3 billion, the increase of the volume of exchange of goods to 5 million tons, as well as the simplification and development of financial, banking, commercial, and customs relations.

"Economic and political relations between Iran and Armenia have decades of history. The basis of all ongoing negotiations is this long-term cooperation between the two countries, and the goal of increasing the level of trade and economic relations between Armenia and Iran to $3 billion is evidence of these main foundations," the Armenian minister said.

Referring to the recorded 25-percent increase in the amount of economic exchanges between the two countries, the minister emphasized that this year the increase in the amount of exchanges between the two countries will be more than 40 percent.

And Khandouzi, for his part, pointed out: "The government of Iran is very seriously following the economic policy of the neighboring countries—with an emphasis on the Caucasus region. And I hope that the goal of $3 billion of trade between our countries, which was discussed during the meeting between the President of Iran and the Prime Minister of Armenia, will be realized under this government."