BEIJING (Sputnik) – Sources in the Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group told the Xinhua news service that an Iranian container ship arrived at Qinzhou Port in the southern autonomous region of Guangxi on Wednesday.
The ship named "Peranin" reportedly delivered 978 containers from "several countries along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road."
Peranin's arrival marks the opening of the first shipping route linking the Middle East and the Beibu Gulf (Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnamese), according to the outlet.
Iran reemerged after a period of international isolation in mid-January, after its nuclear program was verified to be in compliance with the landmark agreement reached last summer. Tehran has since signed major deals with French, Italian, German and other companies.
On January 23, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed 17 cooperation agreements to strengthen bilateral ties. One of the agreements reportedly covered developing and constructing China's ambitious New Silk Road project as the two countries set a goal of increasing bilateral trade to $600 billion in the next 10 years.
