TEHRAN- Iran and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on road transportation cooperation, at the end of the two countries’ Road Transportation Joint Committee meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.

The MOU, inked by Iranian deputy transport and urban development minister and Russian deputy transport minister, is a step toward strengthening the two countries’ economic exchanges in the field of road transport.

The parties also discussed and made agreement on the exchange of statistics and information in terms of road transport, international road transport issues in the territory of Iran and Russia, the use of traffic permits, border crossings and the development of international transport corridors.

 Sberbank ready to lay ground for Iran-Russia financial exchanges

Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced the agreements made with Sberbank of Russia to provide the necessary infrastructure for financial exchanges between the businessmen of the two countries.

Making the remarks on the sideline of a meeting between the bank’s managing director and Iranian industry, mining and trade minister in Tehran, Alireza Peyman-Pak  informed about the agreements and financial cooperation with Sberbank of Russia, and stating that this bank is the seventh largest bank in Europe and one of the largest banks in Russia with a large amount of financial scope, he stated: “This bank is one of the largest banks among Eurasian countries and it has many connections with many countries including China, Turkey and Persian Gulf countries.”

According to the official, increasing trade exchanges between the two countries was one of the topics raised in this meeting.

Iran-Russia annual trade up 80%

The TPO head further announced an 80-percent increase in trade between Iran and Russia during the past year and said: “Trade between Iran and Russia reached $4 billion, which was unprecedented in the commercial history of the two countries, and with the effective communication of Iranian businessmen in various industries, we will soon see a significant increase in this figure.”

He pointed out the financial bases needed to achieve the growth of trade between Iran and Russia and said: “One of the problems in trade with Russia is in the financial field, and if the problems of financial exchanges are resolved, the growth of trade between the two countries will be realized.”

According to him, one of the main topics of the meeting with the directors and managing director of Sberbank of Russia was financial channels and joint cooperation.

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 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.”

MA/MA