Tehran, Moscow make progress on financial, trade ties
Iran’s economy minister said on Monday that talks with his Russian counterpart had produced significant openings on financial and foreign-exchange issues, as the two countries seek to facilitate trade and investment.
Ali Madanizadeh, who traveled to Moscow for bilateral and multilateral consultations, described his meeting with Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov as “good and transparent” and said he would take the results of the talks back to Tehran for further follow-up, IRNA reported.
Madanizadeh said the implementation of two new initiatives would turn customs offices from places where goods are held into transit points, emphasizing efforts to streamline trade procedures.
He also said Iran had proposed sending a group of educated Iranian workers seeking employment to Russia. He said Iran’s ambassador in Moscow would follow up on the proposal.
The talks also focused on investment opportunities in Iran’s strategic and high-return industries, as well as ways to facilitate financial and commercial exchanges between the two countries, Madanizadeh said.
He described his meeting with Siluanov as “very good” and said the two sides had reached good agreements.
Madanizadeh also attended a meeting with Iranian businesspeople and traders based in Russia on Monday.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said Russia had significant economic potential for Iran, including as a market for Iranian purchases of essential goods.
“The trend in bilateral trade over the past several years has been positive, and given Russia’s large market, serious commercial activity between the two countries has begun,” Jalali said.
Jalali stressed the need to remove obstacles to expanding trade with Russia by improving market knowledge, developing transit infrastructure, resolving customs problems, facilitating monetary and banking exchanges and improving logistics.
He also pointed to government efforts to strengthen transport infrastructure along the International North-South Transport Corridor, citing efforts to advance an agreement to build the Rasht-Astara railway.
Iran is making serious efforts to accelerate the project, Jalali said, describing it as a “project that the Russian side has said can be completed within three years.”
Russian Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin said in June that shipments from Russia to Iran through the International North-South Transport Corridor rose more than 56% in the first four months of 2026, while total freight traffic along the corridor increased 87%.
Russian Ambassador to Iran Alexey Dedov also said in June that bilateral trade reached about $5.8 billion in 2025, up 21% from the previous year. He said the positive trend continued in the first four months of 2026, when bilateral trade grew 2% despite disruptions to some logistics chains.