Russia remain as Iran’s most important political partner though the two sides lack appropriate trade and economic ties hence the efforts in recent years to find venues for expansion of economic collaborations between Tehran and Moscow.
The need for closer economic ties between the two countries was better felt after the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against Moscow and it was when Russian traders voiced eagerness for cooperation with Iran’s private sector though certain barriers, including high tariffs and lack of familiarity with the Russian market, prevented elevation of trade ties between the two parties.
Over the past months however both states have made efforts to bolster bilateral relations and a Russian delegation, comprising 300 people from 180 firms, have just arrived in Tehran to conduct face-to-face meetings with state and private sectors of Iran.
Vice Chairman of Iran-Russian Chamber of Commerce Ghadir Ghiafeh said the new visiting delegation has travelled to Tehran in the form of a joint commission on economic, cultural and scientific cooperation between Iran and Russia; “the commission aims to boost ties with a panel of private and state sectors while specialized committees will be in charge of investigating various subjects.”
He stated that Russians had identified Iran’s capacities in different areas as regards meeting their demands and the visiting board seeks to find trade partners and launch cooperation on technology transfer.
The official said a relevant conference will be held at presence of 500 to 600 Iranian economic activists to discuss venues for reinvigoration of ties between the two sides.
Ghiafeh said the parties will also touch upon issues like oil, gas, petrochemical and financing of projects asserting “solutions should also be sought for banking issues as the main obstacle to development of bilateral cooperation.”
The official, while calling for formation of broker relations between banks of two countries, said non-oil exports will be dealt with by exchanging views between Iranian and Russian authorities.
“Russia enjoys excellent capacities in various economic sectors,” stressed vice chairman of Iran-Russian Chamber of Commerce saying that share of Iran in Russia’s import volume stood at the negligible figure of 350 to 450 million dollars.
He maintained the Iranian traders lacked proper familiarity with the Russian market urging state and private sectors of both sides to spare no effort in introducing their potentials.
Ghiafeh recalled that volume of trade turnover between Tehran and Russia has become eightfold in the current year though the figure is still considered as insignificant.
The official further underscored that currencies of both countries were affected by global market which made it difficult to use local currencies instead of dollar for monetary transactions.
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