At the meeting, which was held in Moscow, the ministers conferred on the contents of agreements at the 15th Iran-Russia joint economic commission in the fields of agriculture, banking, energy, industry, and technical affairs.
Ardakanian’s visit to Russia was aimed at operationalizing a $5 billion credit line for infrastructure projects.
Delegates from Iran’s ministry of finance, the central bank, ministry of industry, mine and trade and ministries of transportation and energy accompanied the energy minister in the negotiations.
The idea for Russia to provide the loan to Iran was first conceived in 2015, but the final documents were signed only in September this year.
The majority of the loan will reportedly be used for the conduction of several joint power plant projects in Iran. Part of it will also be used to finance building 2,000 train carriages for use in inner-city transportation as well as building a railway between Zahedan in the southeast to Birjand in northeast Iran.
MNA/IRN83564212