Iran, Russia meet to strengthen trade ties
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Iran and Russia continue to bolster ties on various levels since both countries became subject to almost the same sanctions imposed by the West.
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Iran's Anzali Port on the Caspian sea, one of the important knots for trade with Russia
Representatives from more than 350 Iranian and Russian enterprises attended the Iran-Russia Trade Conference on Thursday, which was held at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Moscow.
At the conference, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazzem Jalali, Head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization (TPOI) Alireza Peyman-Pak, and President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergey Katyrin spoke about the potential for economic and trade cooperation between Iran and Russia, particularly in light of the current situation.
Representatives from 70 Iranian and 300 Russian firms from a variety of industries, including technology, petrochemicals, medicine, and the food industry, met and negotiated face to face.
In an interview with TASS, Jalali had stated that: "As regards banking and financial cooperation, officials from the banking sphere of two countries are in constant contact with each other. A personal meeting of officials of the two countries is planned in the near future to solve possible problems.”
On Monday, a 70-member Iranian delegation had visited Moscow, Russia's capital, to strengthen commercial relations and hold economic negotiations.
Cement, aquaculture, food industry and shoe industry, apparel, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, academics, and other industries are represented by the Iranian delegation.
In March, Jalali had stated that Tehran and Moscow decided to deepen their banking and financial cooperation in order to strengthen ties and combat sanctions.
Iran to trade with Russia using national currencies
The Vice Governor of Iran's Central Bank, Mohsen Karimi, says that Iran would like to conduct trade with Russia using the national currencies of both countries.
"The relevant agreements and opportunities already exist. Iran would like to use them to conduct trade operations with Russia in rubles and tomans," Karimi told Sputnik on Friday.
Read more: Iran’s experience in facing sanctions available to Russia and may inspire it – Experts
Iran and Russia's trade hit new highs in 2021, exceeding $4 billion. Russian imports from Iran accounted for $967.3 million of that number, recording an 81.4% jump compared to the previous year.
Both countries had signed an important agreement in January to foster energy cooperation between them, namely for developing Iran's oil and gas fields.
Iran is working on boosting economic cooperation with Russia and former Soviet Union republics. On January 26, 2022, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan welcomed the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia, Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, and revealed his country's will to provide support in cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
The EEU is an economic union of post-Soviet countries currently including five-member states –Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia, while Moldova, Cuba, and Uzbekistan have been given observer status.
