Iran-Russia annual trade beats $5b: Lawmaker
By Sadeq Dehqan & Reza Abesh Ahmadlou
Staff writers
The annual bilateral trade of Iran with Russia stands at over $5 billion, announced the deputy head of the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group, adding that both countries enjoy great potentials which can help increase the level of Tehran-Moscow ties.
Talking to Iran Daily, Mojtaba Yousefi criticized the volume of current exchanges between Iran and Russia, noting that the ground should be paved for a significant increase in the level of commercial exchanges.
According to official statistics, trade exchanges between Iran and Russia increased from $2.22 billion in 2020 to $4.6 billion in 2022.
Referring to the policies adopted by the incumbent government, he said that Iran has prioritized increasing relations with regional countries as well as signing new regional and international agreements.
“Decided by the new government, our foreign diplomacy, especially towards friendly and allied countries, came out of passivity, as we followed a very active diplomacy in this field, and we joined important groups in line with a win-win approach to issues. We signed a lot of cooperation with different countries.”
In this regard, close relations were formed between Tehran and Moscow, but despite all efforts, the current level of cooperation is not satisfactory, the lawmaker said.
“We should move towards the use of national currencies in financial exchanges between the two countries in order to speed up the increase of trade relations and investment between the two countries.”
Supporting investors, establishing bank branches to facilitate financial transfers, and optimal use of capacities of private sectors of the two countries are other ways to improve the level of economic and commercial exchanges, Yousefi stated.
Bilateral consortia have been formed between the commercial and agricultural sections of the two countries, he said, adding that the two sides are also trying to focus more on international corridors crossing through Iran and Russia.
“We can extend collaboration in the field of technologies that require long-term investment which provide the common interests of both parties, such as the development of power plants and other infrastructures, also the two countries can supply basic goods needed by each other if necessary.”
Iranian investors have made great efforts to establish a brand name in the Russian market, but the problem that has existed is that, for example, in the field of exporting food and agricultural products, certain protocols and standards for exporters were not defined, the MP criticized.
“We have missed many opportunities in the field of using the capacities of the Russian market, so we must take more serious action in the near future.”
In the past challenges between European countries and Russia that led to sanctions against Moscow by Europe, we could have acted better and more actively in the field of supplying the goods needed by the country, especially food and agricultural products, Yousefi said.
However, due to the lack of some infrastructure, including the lack of refrigerated trucks, we could not achieve success in the field of exporting agro-products.
Referring to the geopolitical features of Iran, he explained that Iran has a unique position in establishing connections between East and West as well as North and South, and Russia can access the Sea of Oman and high seas through Iran.
The two factors of distance and cost of transportation are very important, the lawmaker noted, adding that our country can provide the best route for regional countries to access a 650-million-people market.