China plans to invest in 20 petrochemical projects in Iran, on Tuesday, lauding the country's advancement in petrochemical fields, as per FNA. China is Iran's top trade partner.

Iranian oil minister said. "Based on the latest agreements, Chinese investors intend to use such credit line for investing in 20 petrochemical projects in Iran," Qassemi said, expressing the hope that the projects would yield result sooner than the declared timeline.

Beijing has also significantly increased its presence in Iran's oil and gas sector by signing a series of contracts worth up to 40 billion dollars in the past few years.

China boosted its oil imports from Iran by 30% in 2011 despite the West's pressure on the world's second largest economy to lower economic ties with Iran. China's crude oil imports from Iran have amounted to 27.76 million metric tons in 2011, Chinese General Administration of Customs announced in February. The figure shows that the country traded in nearly 557,000 barrels of oil from Iran on a daily basis last year.