Rouhani to meet with Putin in Moscow

President Hassan Rouhani will lead an Iranian delegation to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a two-day summit in Moscow starting Monday.

Mr. Rouhani departed Tehran for Moscow on Friday, where he will hold face-to-face meetings with Mr. Putin and other senior Russian officials, Presidential Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Information Parviz Esmaeili said in a statement.

During the two-day summit, the world leaders would "discuss leading bilateral, regional and international issues” along with finalizing bilateral agreements "to bolster cooperation in legal and judicial sectors, roads and urban development, technology and communications, energy and sports,” he said in a statement to Iranian state news outlet Press TV.

Aside from mutual economic and development projects, Mr. Rouhani and Mr. Putin also planned to discuss "ways to promote regional stability and security and the fight against terrorism” in Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere across the globe, Mr. Esmaeili said.

Monday’s meeting will be the eighth time Mr. Rouhani has met with his Russian counterpart over the past four years. It comes as Tehran and Moscow are shepherding peace talks to end the six-year Syrian civil war.

Russian, Iranian and Turkish officials are meeting with representatives from Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime in Geneva for talks this week. On Tuesday, Deputy United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ramzy met with representatives from the Assad regime. He will hold informal talks with opposition officials during the course of the Geneva summit.

The talks, which began during an initial summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, have continued without participation by the United States.