TEHRAN – Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Russian Export Center (REC) for the expansion of trade relations between the two countries.

By signing this MOU, the two sides pledged to focus more on bilateral cooperation to develop trade and economic exchanges between the two countries and stated that they will work to increase the traders’ understanding of each other's production and consumption capacities in order to promote mutual trade, the TCCIMA portal reported.

As reported, the two sides also stressed the use of barter trade as an effective way of increasing the level of trade between the two countries.

The signing ceremony was attended by senior officials from both sides including Hesamedin Hallaj, TCCIMA deputy head for the international affairs, the head of the Russian Embassy’s Trade Representation in Iran, Rustam Ziganshin, and the head of the Russian Export Center’s Office in Iran, Pavel Bukhanov.

Speaking in the ceremony, Hallaj referred to the two countries’ long-standing relations and underlined some of the obstacles in the way of the development of relations, including the lack of knowledge of each other's potentials and also the lack of knowledge of laws and regulations governing the markets of the two countries.

“We seek to establish effective and direct communication with the Russian provincial chambers of commerce under the framework of the memorandum which was signed,” the official said.

Further in the meeting, Ziganshin explained the activities of the Russian Export Center in Iran and said: "This center consists of state-owned companies, and it carries out various commercial affairs such as market analysis, accreditation and consulting."

According to Ziganshin, the REC has 30 offices inside and 10 offices outside Russia, one of which is located in Tehran.

In another part of his speech, he stressed that the provisions of the memorandum of understanding with the Tehran Chamber of Commerce will be fully implemented.

EF/MA