Iran, Norway urge expansion of ties

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

TEHRAN, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Norway called for expansion of their relations in diverse areas, semi-official Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

The issue was raised in a meeting between Head of Iran-Norway Parliamentary Friendship Group Vahid Ahmadi and Norwegian Ambassador to Iran Jens-Petter Kjemprud in Tehran on Tuesday.

"Iran and Norway enjoy abundant potentials and capabilities to increase the level of their cooperation and expand their bilateral friendly ties, which can be used for improvement of the level of the friendly interactions between the two countries," Ahmadi was quoted as saying.

Kjemprud, for his part, underlined that Norway attaches importance to the development of ties with Iran, saying that " Norway seeks to promote the level of its friendly relations with Iran in different arenas, specially parliamentary ties and scientific and academic cooperation."

In January, Kjemprud also said that his country was ready to boost cooperation with Iran in the energy sector.

The calls for improving relations between two states come after the relations between Norway and Iran turned for the worse in 2010, with each country expelling diplomats following Norway granted asylum to an Iranian consul in Oslo