TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's official news agency IRNA says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for a quick increase in trade with China to US$100 billion a year.
The news agency says current trade between the two countries is worth about US$30 billion.
Iran turned to China after the West imposed economic sanctions over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program. Iran says it's nuclear program has a strictly peaceful purpose.
Ahmadinejad spoke after a meeting Saturday with He Guoqiang, a senior executive of the Chinese Communist Party. The Iranian president says he hopes the new trade goal will be reached quickly, but did not give a time frame.
IRNA says the two countries signed agreements worth US$4 billion in mining, energy and other areas.
