TEHRAN - The value of trade exchanges between Iran and Russia in 2021 topped $4 billion to register a dramatic 81.7 percent hike as compared to the previous year, data released by Russia's customs showed.

According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia (FCS), trade turnover between Iran and Russia reached $4.035 billion in 2021, Mehr News Agency reported.

In this period, the value of Russia’s exports to Iran hit $3.068 billion, recording a 2.2 percent rise while the country’s imports from the Islamic Republic stood at $967.3 million, registering a 21.4 percent growth.

Accordingly, Iran’s share of the Russian Federation’s total trade turnover increased from 0.4 percent in 2020 to 0.5 percent in 2021.

Iran and Russia have been taking serious steps for boosting their mutual trade over the past few years.

In late January, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had said that the Islamic Republic and Russia have reached an agreement to boost the trade between the two countries up to $10 billion.

“We agreed to remove trade barriers and boost the economic exchanges between the two countries. Currently, the level of mutual trade is not acceptable, so the two countries agreed to increase trade to $10 billion a year,” Raisi said on January 21, upon arrival to Tehran after a two-day visit to Moscow.

The president also noted that the two sides had also discussed monetary and banking issues during his talks with Russian officials.

“The two countries can take steps to break the dominance of the dollar over monetary and banking relations and trade with the national currency," Raisi stressed.

The two countries also agreed to identify mutual agricultural capacities as well as suitable areas for the exchange of agricultural products in order to increase the level of trade in the agricultural sector, according to the official.

He went on to say that the Islamic Republic of Iran has very good capacities in the field of transit and transportation, saying: “During this visit, it was agreed to activate the north-south corridor. This transit route will make the time and distance of transiting goods from Russia and different northern countries to the southern regions much shorter.”

EF/MA