Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday stressed the need to develop the economic cooperation between Iran and Syria, according to the state news agency SANA.

Assad voiced his thoughts during his meeting Monday with the visiting head of the Iranian-Syrian Economic Relations Development Committee Rostam Ghasemi and the accompanying delegation.

The embattled leader stressed the need for the Syrian-Iranian economic vision to intermingle with the political and strategic vision between both countries, underlining the need to facilitate procedures and overcome obstacles hindering the development of economic cooperation.

For his part, Ghasemi reiterated Iran's support to the Syrian government, noting that Iran is committed to continue providing support and expertise to empower Syria on the economic level.

The Syrian economy has taken a strong beating during the country's nearly four-year-old crisis that has negatively affected all sectors in the country, including the economic one.

The Syrian government has been struggling to keep the ailing economy alive, relying largely on "friendly countries," like Iran and Russia to prop up the hard-hit economy.