TEHRAN – President Vladimir Putin and President Hassan Rouhani late on Monday witnessed the inking of seven cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding between Iran and Russia.

The agreements were signed on the sidelines of the summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) hosted by Tehran.

One of the agreements concerned a facilitation of travels between the nationals of Iran and Russia which was signed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

The two sides also concluded agreements on railway transportation, banking, health, deep water reservoir exploration and assessment, synchronization of power networks, and construction of a power plant in Bandar Abbas, a port city on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

The deal on railway transportation concerns signaling of the Garmsar-Incheboroun railway project which connects the city of Garmsar to Turkmenistan.

The banking cooperation was signed between the Central Bank of Iran and Vnesheconombank, the Russian State Corporation “Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs”.

Rouhani also said Tehran was seeking greater cooperation with Moscow in the energy, banking and transportation sectors.

“There are a lot of projects in the oil and gas sector and electricity that we can work on together,” Rouhani told a televised news conference. “We also discussed expanding banking relations as one of the pillars of our mutual ties.”

$5 billion state loan

Putin also announced Russia was ready to extend a $5 billion state loan to Iran to promote industrial cooperation.

“We plan to enliven industrial cooperation. Russia is ready to offer a state export loan for these purposes worth $5 billion,” Putin told journalists after his talks with Rouhani.

According to the Russian president, the sides have selected 35 priority projects in the areas of energy, construction, se terminals, railways, etc.

Apart from that, he said, the two countries are set to expand trade relations focusing on diversification of trade and to make a wide use of national currencies in bilateral deals.

“We plan to expand dynamics of our bilateral relations. We will pay special attention to diversification of trade and make a wider use of national currencies in mutual settlements,” Putin said.

He also said the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) would look at possible establishment of a free trade zone with Iran in practical terms.