TEHRAN — Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian held talks with his Russian counterpart on the phone ahead of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Moscow.

In the telephone conversation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed pleasure with the impending visit of Raisi to Russia. 

He said that all the necessary preparations 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 ties.

The foreign ministers also exchanged views on other issues of interest, including the Vienna talks.

Amir Abdollahian also referred to export of an Iranian agricultural product to Russia, which is now facing problems due to some administrative formalities. 

Iran’s top diplomat stressed the need to speed up efforts to settle the issue.

In response, the Russian foreign minister underlined the technical nature of the issue, saying that the matter is being pursued and resolved by relevant bodies.

He reiterated that according to the existing agreements, the import and export of agricultural items between the two countries is going on naturally, and to solve the issue of importing bell peppers from Iran the relevant authorities from the two countries are making coordination to discuss and settle technical problems on Wednesday through a webinar.

Iran’s president will visit Russia on Wednesday, according to an official statement released by the Kremlin.