Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari will arrive in Tehran on Wednesday upon an official invitation by First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi. According to Syria's state news agency, al-Otari will attend sessions of Iran-Syria joint high council, scheduled to be held in Tehran on March 14-16. The Iran-Syria joint high council meeting, co-chaired by Davoudi and al-Otari, is held in one of the two countries' capitals annually. During his visit, the Syrian premier is to hold talks with senior Iranian officials on avenues to bolster bilateral cooperation in various economic fields, implementation of joint projects and expansion of joint investment. Al-Otari will be accompanied by a number of Syrian ministers and industrialists in his Tehran visit. The value of bilateral cooperation between Tehran and Damascus in the fields of export of technical and engineering services and industrial projects, which have been implemented or are currently underway by Iranian companies, is estimated to hit some one billion dollars. The value of trade exchanges between the two countries stood at some 100 million dollars in 2006 while the two sides' senior officials stressed the figure should reach three billion dollars. Sessions of Iran-Syria Joint Economic Commission are also being held every six month to bolster trade and economic cooperation and remove obstacles in the way of expansion of bilateral relations. -- SPA
