Comprehensive partnership agreement between Iran, Russia almost ready
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Iran and Russia are in the final stages of finalizing a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement that establishes a long-term partnership between the two nations.
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The new ambassador of the Russian Federation to Iran, Alexey Dedov, met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian at the beginning of his mission on January 11, 2022. (Iranian MoFA website)
Russian Ambassador to Iran, Alexey Dedov, informed Sputnik that the process of finalizing a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between Russia and Iran is imminent, with the signing of the document expected soon.
"This is truly the most important fundamental document, which may determine Russian-Iranian interaction for the coming years, and perhaps decades. We are talking about a new interstate agreement, a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries," Dedov said.
He noted that "work is currently underway on the final development and finalization of this document." The diplomat noted that while it remains challenging to provide specific dates, Moscow anticipates the agreement to be signed "in the foreseeable future."
This comes in light of record-high trade relations between both countries.
Russia 1st in volume of foreign investment in Iran
Dedov announced that Russia had secured the leading position in terms of investment volume in Iran in 2023. He added that this underscores the actual depth of bilateral relations between the two countries.
"Russian energy companies are successfully working in the Iranian market, while Russia has taken the first place in the foreign investment in Iran … This illustrates the real level of our relations," the Russian diplomat said.
Russia was ranked first among the leaders of foreign investment in Iran in 2022 as well.
On another note, it is worth mentioning that in January, Hossein Eivazloo, Deputy Director of Foreign Investment at the Iranian National Development Fund, revealed plans for Russian and Iranian national wealth funds to establish joint investment committees. These committees aim to facilitate the realization of various projects across sectors including oil, gas, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, high-tech, and others.
Read next: Russia-Iran trade hits record high: Russian envoy to Iran
On February 9, Russia's ambassador to Tehran Alexei Dedov told reporters that trade relations between Russia and Iran have reached a record high of $4.6 billion in 2022, a stark increase of 15% compared to the year prior.
"Record trade figures for 2022 are largely due to the fruitful agricultural cooperation between Russian and Iranian companies. Agri-food accounts for about 85% of our trade," Dedov said, noting that the numbers for the year 2022 were not final and that upward revisions are still ongoing.
On January 16, reports revealed that Russia and Iran are discussing the possibility of the two parties expanding their cooperation to include the cryptocurrency sector as Moscow and Tehran mull developing a joint gold-backed stablecoin.
Reports about this cooperation came out after the Executive Director of the Russian Association of the Crypto Industry and Blockchain, Alexander Brazhnikov, told Russian media that the Iranian Central Bank was considering the joint creation of a cryptocurrency with Russia as a form of payment for international transactions.
