IRAN DAILY
Jan. 29, 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 Voice of Russia reported on Friday.
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 and cooperation with lawyers.
Russia has also promised to help train legal personnel for Iran at Russian higher educational institutions. These agreements are to be signed during the visit to Tehran by Alexander Konovalov, the Russian justice minister, toward the end of this year.
Certain problems require cooperation between Russia and Iran, such as the fight against the Afghan drug trade.
By virtue of their location, Russia and Iran lie at the crossroads of the distribution of Afghan drugs. Both countries have recently signed an agreement to combat 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 deputy Russian justice minister, who led a delegation of Russian lawyers to 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,” he said.
Likhachev noted 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 dialogue between Russia and Iran is highly significant, as on March 12, their bilateral agreement on cooperation will be 10 years old.
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