South Korea and Iran have agreed to expand direct flights between their countries to eleven times a week.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation said on Wednesday that it held talks with Iran’s aviation authority on Monday and Tuesday and agreed to increase the number of weekly flights on the Seoul-Tehran route to eleven from the current four.

The two nations signed an aviation agreement in 1998 to allow their airliners to run four flights of passenger and cargo planes a week. In March this year, the ministry granted a flight license to Korean Air for the Seoul-Tehran route.

With the latest agreement, additional flight permits will likely be given to other air carriers, including Asiana Airlines.

A ministry official expects that the latest agreement will boost economic cooperation and cultural exchanges between the two nations.