Spain will provide Iran with a credit line of 600 million dollars as the two nations move to boost commercial ties, visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Sunday.
He made the announcement at a joint Tehran press conference with President Mohammed Khatami, saying economic and commercial relations with Iran were of "great importance."
Spain also aims to "sign an agreement, which would secure these relations" during the visit, Aznar said, adding that Khatami had been invited to Madrid.
The reformist president for his part said Aznar's visit "will only strengthen the ties even further in all fields," adding that the two nations were determined to fight terrorism and drug trafficking.
Spain is one of Iran's principal commercial partners, although trade dropped from 1.07 billion dollars in 1997 to only 768 million last year, 70 percent of which was Spanish purchases of Iranian oil.
Khatami said he would hold further talks later Sunday with Aznar and there was no immediate word on whether the Spanish prime minister would cut short his visit following an apparent terrorist attack back home.
A senior prison warder was killed earlier Sunday in an attack which Spanish police said bore the hallmarks of the Basque separatist group ETA, which would make it the 16th killing by the group this year.
Aznar is making the first Iran visit by a Spanish head of government since the 1979 Islamic revolution – TEHRAN (AFP)
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