Iran, Russia ink transportation deal

High-ranking Iranian and Russian officials endorsed an agreement to increase cooperation in road transportation sector.

Manouchehr Salmanzadeh, the deputy head of Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, and Tatiana Yugeniuna, the director general of Russia’s Transportation Organization, signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Tehran, reported Fars News Agency.

Based on the agreement, the two countries will facilitate road transportation and improve the infrastructures in the sector.

Last Sunday, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei said that Iran-russia trade had reached $500 million because of the two sides’ determination to boost interactions, adding that both Tehran and Moscow were after higher commercial exchanges.

Sanaei said that the current level of Iran-russia economic relations could be raised given the two countries’ vast potentials.

“Unfortunately, the previous round of sanctions left an adverse impact on Iran-russia economic ties, to the point where our banking and trade ties were nearly paralyzed,” the Iranian ambassador recalled.

He noted that however, “Currently, we are making efforts to revitalize our economic relations, and we believe that the new round of US sanctions will not have a serious impact on the two countries’ relations.”

He said Russians have not abandoned any serious project in their interactions with Iran.

“Russia is our partner, and I don’t think the positions of any country in the region are as close to Iran as those of Russia,” Sanaei said.

“I also think that the Russians have the same opinion as that Iran’s in the international and regional arenas, although the two countries have their own particular views on certain issues.”

Sanaei further noted that in the past five years, Iranian and Russian presidents had met and held talks for 16 times, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had visited Russia and held talks with the country’s officials for over 20 times in the same period.