Iran, Russia Post 26% Rise in Bilateral Trade Transactions

Tehran and Moscow are determined to increase economic ties in all areas of trade, business and investment, as Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told his Iranian counterpart Reza Ardakanian that bilateral trade has boosted by 25.8%.

Ardakanian and Novak, who jointly chair Iran-Russia Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation, held phone talks regarding the development of economic cooperation and investment very early on Friday to confer on a wide spectrum of issues ranging from trade, business and economic cooperation to investment.

During the conversation, the Russian minister said that the volume of trade transactions between Iran and Russia hit $1.470 billion from January to August 2019, showing a 25.8 percent hike as compared to the same period of last year.

Cooperation of the two countries is considerable within the framework of joint commission in the growth and development of trade exchanges between Iran and Russia, Novak added.

“We believe that intensive cooperation should be developed between the two countries with the aim of strengthening bilateral relations,” he added.

Moreover, Ardakanian and Novak exchanged views concerning the bilateral cooperation in energy, transport and industrial fields.

Early in September, Ardakanian and Novak, in a meeting in Moscow, expressed their respective countries’ resolution to further bolster economic relations, and vowed to accelerate the implementation of agreements and completion of joint projects.

During the meeting, Ardakanian and Novak underscored the importance of accelerating implementation of bilateral projects such as building a 1400 megawatt power plant in Sirik, Southern Iran and electrifying Garmsar-Incheboron railway.

During the meeting chairmen of Iran-Russia joint economic cooperation commissions discussed various issues like following up bilateral projects, and agreements in the 15th joint economic commission meeting held in Isfahan and Tehran.

They also discussed the latest conditions of building a 1400 megawatt power plant in Sirik by using Russian loan and electrifying Garmsar-Incheboron railway.

Expressing happiness over finalizing Iran internal procedure to join Eurasian Economic Union, Novak said based on the agreements the temporary free trade agreement between Iran and Eurasia will become operational on October 26.

He also called for implementing Iran-Kazakhstan-Russia trilateral agreement for temporary transfer, transit and swap of wheat.

He also lauded cooperation between Iran and Russia in aerospace field, and called for maintaining bilateral cooperation in the field of digital energy.