TEHRAN – Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) hosted an Iran-Russia business forum on Wednesday in which the opportunities and challenges of trade between the two countries were explored.

As reported by the TCCIMA portal, the meeting was attended by senior officials from the two sides including TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Vladimir Ilyichev, as well as the representatives of several companies active in a variety of fields.

Speaking in this meeting, Khansari emphasized the need to further strengthen and develop economic relations between the two countries, saying: “Although Iran-Russia relations have experienced many ups and downs throughout history, according to international analysts, expanding economic cooperation between the two countries has never been so important in all these years.”

“In the regional and global perspective, Iran-Russia relations are based on the principle of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. Regional developments have always led to more cooperation between Iran and Russia, and the two countries have common interests and alignment in Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus, and the Persian Gulf, taking into account the two neighbors’ geopolitical, geostrategic, geoeconomics and energy capabilities,” Khansari said.

Referring to the Western sanctions against Iran and Russia, he said that this issue has become a reason for closer relations between the two countries and the further development of trade relations.

“It has become a great incentive for cooperation between the two neighbors in various fields including energy, transportation, information technology, mining and medicine, medical equipment, food industry, agriculture, scientific subjects, etc.”

He noted that the visit of President Raisi to Russia and the exchange of several delegations at other levels between the two countries have had a direct impact on strengthening Iran's exports to Russia, especially since the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine.

The signing of the Preferential Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in addition to reducing the role of the dollar in bilateral trade will further streamline this process, the official said.

“Using barter trade mechanism between the private sectors of the two countries with the support of governments will also improve economic partnership, he added.

A high-ranking delegation from the Russian Federation headed by the country’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Vladimir Ilyichev, arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to pursue expansion of economic relations with the Islamic Republic.

Prior to the trade conference, the Russian delegation visited Iran’s Oil Ministry on Tuesday and Ilyichev visited Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International and Trade Affairs Ahmad Asadzadeh to discuss the expansion of energy ties between the two countries.

Also, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and the Russian delegates met Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji on Wednesday.

A roadmap for developing mutual trade

Meanwhile, Director General of the Russian Export Center Veronika Nikishina met with Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) on Wednesday and stressed the need for the development of economic relations and the elimination of intermediaries in trade exchanges.

The two sides agreed on preparing a roadmap for joint cooperation and removing customs barriers, amending customs regulations, establishing joint ventures, and boosting financial and banking exchanges and interactions in order to develop trade exchanges between Iran and Russia.

In this meeting, Peyman-Pak underlined the need to provide a clear and online mechanism to introduce companies and businessmen of the two countries to each other.

He also pointed to the exchange of specialized trade delegations and holding joint exhibitions as measures to further promote trade exchanges and added: "After the establishment of the Russian trade office in Iran, Iran seeks to expand its trade offices in Russia as well."

Peyman-Pak also referred to the recent visit of the Iranian President to Oman and said: "In this visit, the subject of activating the North-South corridor with the participation of Iran, Russia, India, and Oman was discussed and it was decided to review and implement this issue in a meeting hosted by Tehran."

The TPO head also mentioned the Iranian government’s trade policies based on barter trade, saying: "Since we currently have about five billion dollars of barter trade with China, we intend to implement this mechanism with Russia as well."

EF/MA