Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Sergey Lavrov held a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on bilateral relations and issues on JCPOA.
In his phone talk with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Lavrov discussed the latest situation of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) within the framework of resumption of talks on the removal of anti-Iranian sanctions, the statement added.
The eighth round of talks on the removal of US anti-Iranian sanctions kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Monday, December 27 with a meeting of JCPOA Joint Commission, as co-chaired by Iran’s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, who heads Iran negotiating team, and Deputy EU Foreign Policy Chief Enrique Mora.
According to a readout of the phone talk that appeared on the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website, in the telephone conversation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed happiness with the upcoming visit of President Raeisi to Russia and stated that all necessary arrangements have been made for the visit.
The two sides described the trip as an important development in the relations between the two countries and a good opportunity to expand and deepen relations.
The Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia also exchanged views on other issues of interest, including the Vienna talks.
Amir-Abdollahian, for his part stressed the need to expedite the resolution of the issue regarding the problem in the field of exporting one of Iran's crops to Russia, which is now facing problems due to some administrative procedures.
In response, the Russian Foreign Minister explained that a technical problem has emerged. Lavrov added that the issue is being followed up on and resolved through the relevant institutions.
He specified that according to the existing agreements, the import and export of crops between the two countries is going on in a usual manner and to solve the problem of importing bell peppers from Iran, the relevant bodies of the two countries are discussing the matter and tomorrow they will discuss technical issues and will resolve it.
MA/5402381