Iran, Russia Vow to Promote Ties
(FNA)- Iranian and Russian officials stressed the need for utilizing their countries' abundant capacities to deepen and widen the bilateral relations between Tehran and Moscow in different domains, specially in economic sectors.
In a Tuesday meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanaei, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov expressed his country’s determination to boost economic cooperation with Tehran.
He said Moscow will spare no effort to strengthen bilateral cooperation in all fields, particularly in economic and commercial sectors.
The Iranian envoy, for his part, stressed the importance of consultation between Tehran and Moscow in promoting mutual cooperation.
Sanaei expressed hope that Iran and Russia would implement agreements already signed between the two countries on the expansion of relations.
Russia is in talks with Iran to set up a reverse swap formula to convey its Southern oil to the Caspian Sea, so that the Russian tankers would be able to take it to nearby oil terminals.
Iran imports oil from the Central Asian countries to be refined at Tehran and Tabriz oil refineries before delivery to potential buyers in the Persian Gulf.
Iran had swap deals with Central Asian countries, but it was halted in August 2010.
Meantime, media reports said last week that Iran and Russia are in final stages of concluding a 20-bilion-dollar oil deal according to which Moscow can purchase 500,000 barrels of crude per day from Iran.
"We are waiting for agreement by both sides on the price of oil," a Russian informed source said.
The source noted that the value of contract will reach $20bln and the oil consignment will be delivered in several stages.
Iran-Russia trade currently totals $5bln a year, but economists say they can at least quadruple the volume of their trade exchanges.
Last month, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh announced that Tehran and Moscow are due to finalize an agreement on broader economic and trade cooperation.
The Iranian oil minister underlined that Iran is determined to raise the volume of its “economic transactions” with Russia within the framework of long-term deals.