Russia and Iran to mount joint operations

The Voice of Russia (Link) - Zakharov Ivan (January 28, 2011)

Russia and Iran are to join efforts to prevent unlawful action at sea, such as poaching and smuggling.

A few days ago, the Russian Justice Ministry handed over drafts of documents containing the legal basis of both countries� future cooperation at sea, to Tehran. The papers deal with issues like cooperation agreement between the Russian and Iranian Justice Ministries, an agreement on the extradition of detainees, as well as on Consular Convention. Cooperation in the work of lawyers and Notaries is also being proposed and in addition, Russia has equally promised to help train legal personnel for Iran, at Russian higher educational institutions. The agreements are due to be signed during the visit to Tehran by Alexander Konovalov, the Russian Justice Minister, toward the end of this year.

There are problems on which cooperation between Russia and Iran is extremely vital, and one of them is the fighting of the Afghan illegal drug trade. By virtue of their location, Russia and Iran lie at the crossroads of the distribution of Afghan illegal drugs. Both countries have recently signed a memorandum on the war on illegal drugs from Afghanistan, but to make their cooperation more effective, there is a need to work out a single legal basis, says Vasily Likhachev, the Russian deputy Justice Minister, who led a delegation of Russian lawyers who visited Tehran recently.

In the 21st century, the international community should decide the issue of creating a global and regional Justice and legal systems. This is necessary for the sake of combating crimes, especially terrorism, as well as to promote universally recognized basic human rights and liberties, says Likhachev, saying that the trip to Tehran has revealed that Iran and Russia are ready to serve as the birthplace of such a regional legal system, with a possible future enlargement of the number of participating countries.

The legal dialogue between Russia and Iran is highly significant, particularly this year. For on March 12, the signing of their bilateral agreement on relations and cooperation will be 10 years old. �