TEHRAN - The value of non-oil trade between Iran and Russia stood at $968.772 million in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) reported.

The IRICA report put the weight of the non-oil trade between the two countries at 2.09 million tons.

As reported Iran-Russia five-month non-oil trade indicates 19 percent fall in value and 15 percent drop in weight, year on year.

Russia was the fifth top trade partner of Iran among the Islamic Republic’s neighbors in the first five months of the present year.

In early July, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Mohammadreza Farzin said a monetary contract has been signed between Tehran and Moscow for carrying out bilateral trade exchanges.

Farzin told reporters that he and his Russian counterpart had a meeting in Saint Petersburg where they finalized agreements already signed between the two countries.

During the meeting, the chief bankers of Iran and Russia also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint measures to be taken by the two countries for the expansion of economic and monetary ties.

According to Farzin the new monetary contract enables Iran and Russia to trade in local currencies.

He added that based on agreements between the specialized delegations of the two countries, Iran’s Shetab banking system will link Russia’s MIR interbank system by the end of August.

The official said that the new scheme would allow Iranian nationals to take ruble from Russian ATMs using their Iranian banking cards.

"During the meeting, the two sides finalized the requirements to connect Russia’s Mir payment system to Iran’s Shetab and this project has entered the operational phase," Farzin said.

He added that the scheme will further develop in the next phases to allow Russian nationals to use their banking cards in Iranian ATMs and will then enable using Iranian cards at the Russian poses.

"The second stage [involves the possibility of] paying with Russian citizens’ cards in Iran," Farzin said, adding that in the third stage, Iranians will be able to pay with a Shetab card in Russian stores via an ordinary bank terminal.

In April 2024, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that the project to use Mir cards had entered the implementation stage. In May 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the countries were discussing how to connect the Mir and Shetab payment systems.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the value of Iran’s non-oil trade with its neighbors increased by 16 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year to reach $26.857 billion.

Mohammad Rezvanifar put the weight of non-oil trade with the neighboring countries at 43.579 million tons in the said period, noting that the trade between the two sides also increased by 10 percent in terms of weight.

During the mentioned five months, Iran exported 34.118 million tons of goods worth $13.402 billion to its neighbors, while importing 9.461 million tons of commodities valued at $13.455 billion.

Iran’s exports to neighboring countries in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year increased by 11 percent in terms of weight and 19 percent in terms of value, respectively; and imports from neighboring countries increased by 10 percent and 13 percent respectively in terms of weight and value, according to Rezvanifar.

He named Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as the top importers of Iranian goods among the neighboring countries, and the UAE, Turkey, Russia, Oman, and Pakistan as the main sources of imports in the said five months.

Increasing non-oil exports to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government has been pursuing in recent years.

Iran shares land or water borders with 15 countries namely UAE, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia.

MA