EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met with Iranian President Hassan Rohani on March 10 in Tehran.
Rohani commended Ashton for her visit, describing it as a mark of the European Union’s will to establish bilateral relations with Iran.
Rohani expressed the Iranian government’s readiness to replenish economic relations with the EU, adding that alongside nuclear talks, there are other areas in which Iran and the EU could establish relations and cooperate.
Ashton, who was on the second day of her visit to Tehran, said that this is the first time she has had the opportunity to discuss issues other than the nuclear matters with Iranian authorities.
She maintained that she has come to Iran with a goodwill message from the 28 European countries to follow up on the discussions that the Iranian president had with the head of the European Commission in New York and Davos.
She added that her presence in Tehran indicates that the EU is prepared to establish better, more effective and more dynamic relations with Iran alongside the nuclear negotiations.
Ashton went on to meet with Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran’s Supreme Council of National Security.
