TEHRAN - The vice president of VTB Bank, which is the second largest bank in the Russian Federation and possesses a branch in Tehran, has declared that trade exchanges between the two countries increased by 30 percent in the first nine months of the current year.

Olga Basha told IRNA in an exclusive interview in Moscow that bilateral trade between Iran and Russia more than doubled from 2020 to 2022, reaching $4.6 billion in 2022 from $2.22 billion in 2020.

Responding to a question on the usage of national currencies in settling trade transactions between the two nations, Basha noted that given the fact that mutual trade experienced a 30 percent increase, we witness a hike in the ratio of financial exchanges by the use of Russian ruble and Iranian rial in the two sides’ foreign trade.

Tehran, Moscow aim for 10m tons of annual transit

In line with the two countries’ determination to increase the level of trade exchanges, during a video conference meeting between the deputy transport ministers of Iran and Russia on Saturday, the two sides discussed ways of increasing annual transit through Iran to 10 million tons.

In this virtual meeting, the two sides discussed transportation cooperation between the two countries in all areas including rail, road, and sea.

Speaking in this meeting, Iranian Deputy Transport Minister Shahryiar Afandizadeh referred to the high potential for port cooperation between the two countries, especially in the Caspian Sea, and noted that there is a good capacity in Iran’s northern ports for receiving goods sent from Russia and sending them to desired destinations using combined transportation methods.

The officials also discussed the Rasht-Astara railway project and the representative of the Iranian contractor of the project, namely the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company, presented a report on the project’s physical progress.

Iran and Russia have been taking serious steps to boost 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.

As major players in the world and West Asia’s political and economic scene, Iran and Russia have been expanding political and economic ties for many years, however, the relations between the two countries have entered a whole new level over the past few months.

The imposition of sanctions on both countries has been a major factor in bringing the two sides closer together, making them a strong alliance against U.S. pressures. Over the past few months, senior officials from the two sides have been meeting and visiting each other to consolidate bilateral cooperation in various fields, including energy, oil, gas, and transit, as well as diplomatic and political relations.

As the most significant event among the mentioned exchanges, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran on July 19 to attend the 7th Summit of the Guarantor States of the Astana Process.

During his visit to Tehran Putin met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and President Raisi and exchanged views on the recent development in the world and the relations between the two countries.

In these meetings, the two sides reached new agreements and stressed the need to take the necessary measures for broadening political and economic ties between the two countries to nullify the impacts of the U.S. sanctions.

Among other issues, Tehran and Moscow have been negotiating a free trade agreement to ensure acceleration in the economic relations between the two countries.

EF/MA