TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Peyman Pak has stressed the need for establishing export consortia between Iran and Russia for accelerating mutual trade under the framework of the agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Peyman Pak made the remarks in a meeting with the Russian Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan on Tuesday, the TPO portal reported.

In this meeting, major Russian companies were introduced to the Iranian side to cooperate in various sectors including production, trade, and export, while the issue of extraterrestrial cultivation and establishing joint plants for food processing were also discussed.

The need for cooperation between the two countries to facilitate the transit of goods and the removal of customs barriers by the Russian side as well as facilitating the issuance of visas to traders and drivers were also among the issues discussed in the meeting.

According to the official customs data, the value of trade between Iran and Russia stood at $1.168 billion in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), of which $317 million was Iran's exports to Russia and $851 million was the share of imports from Russia.

The presidents of Iran and Russia had an “in-depth” telephone conversation on Tuesday in which they discussed a number of issues ranging from Afghanistan and Syria to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and a cooperation document expected to raise Tehran-Moscow ties to a new level.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi appreciated the phone call of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and expressed Iran’s willingness to develop trade and economic relations with Russia.

EF/MA