There is an Iranian story that tells about a venerable old poet who traveled to China. When he arrived, some poets and painters went to say welcome to him. They showed him a pool to wash his hands. The man turned up his sleeve but wonderfully understood that all the pool and its fish were paintings. It has been years after the old relations between two civilizations through silk road, now more business men and oil sellers travel between two countries. But is it still Iran"s misunderstanding of a future cooperation with China or it is a real partnership?
Iran and China are now involved in more than 100 joint venture projects in line with their economic and technological cooperation said Lio G Tan, Chinese Ambassador to Tehran according to news by Islamic Republic News Agency in November 09, 2005.
He also had announced that Iran-China trade volume is expected to reach 10 billion dollars in ????.Lio told the first seminar of opportunities of Iran-Hong Kong Cooperation that the value of Tehran-Beijing commercial exchanges exceeded seven billion dollars in 2004, showing 25 percent growth compared to the year before. Lio put the value of direct exchanges between Iran and Hong Kong at dlrs 60 million to dlrs 170 million in a period starting from 2003.
The head of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, Assadollah Asgaroladi, told Irna on 8th June 2006 that the official hoped the figure would surpass US$ 13 bln by the end of Iran"s Fourth five-Year Development Plan (2005-2010). The China-Iran connection covers a whole spectrum of economic activities: dam-building, steel mills, ship-building, transport and dozens of other projects.