Russia said it’s strengthening trade with Iran, boosting the economies of both nations as they contend with heavy US sanctions.
“We agreed to accelerate the preparation of agreements on a free trade zone, and discussed cooperation in the nuclear area in detail,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in Tehran after meeting with the co-chairman of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission. Also discussed were oil and gas supply swaps and increasing joint investments in hydrocarbon projects, he said.
Novak, who co-chairs the intergovernmental commission from Russia’s side and oversees the nation’s energy affairs, is visiting Tehran as both nations seek to galvanize economic ties. Trade between the nations rose 81% to a record $3.3 billion in 2021, but Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that level was “not acceptable” and vowed to increase two-way commerce to $10 billion a year.
On Wednesday, top officials set even more ambitious target. Iran and Russia plan to raise trade to $40 billion a year by 2025, said Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji, who co-chairs the commission from the Iranian side, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Bilateral trade will be conducted in the countries’ own currencies, according to Owji.
The energy industries of both countries are sanctioned by the US—in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and following America’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
“We’re on track to raise trade, economic, logistics, investment, financial, banking cooperation, despite the unprecedented pressure that Russia is experiencing,” Novak said at a meeting with businesses in Tehran earlier, as reported by news service Interfax. Trade between Russia and Iran rose by more than 10% in the first quarter, he said.
“We are ready to continue the implementation of already-initiated projects and to launch new ones,” Novak said.
Among those is the expansion of the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant. Talks with Moscow continue on the second and third phases of the facility, which will require “a lot of investment,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Moscow is also interested in developing the long-delayed North-South Transport Corridor, a rail cargo route from Russia to India that would boost trade from the Caspian and Persian Gulf regions, according to Novak.
