Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday struck a broad agreement on a bilateral investment pact.

The two foreign ministers said in a joint press statement that they agreed to set up a council for Japan-Iran cooperation to discuss a variety of issues ranging from economic cooperation to the environment and medical care.

Japan has been seeking a deal that will allow Japanese firms to tap into the commercial potential of the Iranian market, the Japanese officials said.

Negotiations on concluding an investment pact between Japan and Iran began in early September. Later that month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met on the sidelines of UN meetings in New York and agreed to work toward an early conclusion to the negotiations.

Japan hopes an investment pact will ensure Japanese companies do not lag behind those of the United States and European nations in entering oil-rich Iran, Kyodo news agency has quoted the Japanese officials as saying.

Kishida, who left Japan on Sunday for a five-day visit to Iran and then Qatar, said ahead of his trip that he will discuss stronger economic cooperation with Tehran and urge Iran to abide by an accord that was reached in July to diplomatically resolve the issue of Tehran's nuclear development program.