Presidential Advisor and Head of Department of Environment Masoumeh Ebtekar said on Thursday that Iran and Armenia held final talks for establishing a Peace and Friendship Park at the joint border area in northwest of Iran.

Presidential Advisor and Head of Department of Environment Masoumeh Ebtekar said on Thursday that Iran and Armenia held final talks for establishing a Peace and Friendship Park at the joint border area in northwest of Iran.

Ebtekar's remarks were during the inaugural ceremony of the 13th International Environmental Exhibition which officially opened in the Iranian capital earlier in the day with the participation of a number of Iranian and foreign officials.

The idea of Iran-Armenia peace park has originally started in 2012 when Tehran and Yerevan signed an agreement to establish a natural reserve on either side of their border to symbolize and cement growing cooperation between the two neighboring states.

The agreement was signed by the then head of Iran's Department of Environment Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh and his Armenian counterpart Aram Harutiunian.

The park will cover around 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) of land straddling the Aras river, which marks the Armenian-Iranian border.

According to the Iranian and Armenian officials, the project would not only protect wildlife and flora in the mountainous area but also promote ecotourism.

Ebtekar expressed hope that construction of the project would begin in a near future.

She also underlined that Tehran was mulling to establish a similar peace and friendship park in its joint borders with Iraq in the future.