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Rouhani says Iran's energy sector offers huge potential for Russian investment

Iran has offered a number of oil and gas fields to the Russian companies in Iran, the president has noted

Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani EPA/JUSTIN LANE

Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani

© EPA/JUSTIN LANE

TEHRAN, March 27. /TASS/. Iran's energy sector offers huge potential for investments of Russian companies, Iran’s President Rouhani said to the Iranian television on Monday.

"We have offered a number of oil and gas fields to Russian companies [in Iran]," he said in a brief statement to the press before his departure to Moscow from the Mehrabad airport in Tehran.

The Iranian president expressed hope that the development of Russian-Iranian cooperation in the energy sector will speed up.

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Rouhani stressed Russia's role in reaching an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.

"Before the Islamic revolution [1979], Iran was dependent on the US, which aroused concerna in the Soviet Union. After the victory of the revolution, a new stage in our relations began. In 1989, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani [then president of Iran - TASS] visited Moscow," the Iranian president said.

"During that visit important agreements were reached that marked the beginning of the third stage in bilateral relations. In recent years our relations have entered the fourth stage of their development, which is marked by the proximity of the positions of the parties on a number of key international issues. Reaching the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program and its implementation became a god example of such cooperation. Russia provided significant assistance to the solution of this issue," Rouhani stressed.

On Monday, Rouhani began his two-day visit to Moscow. He is to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. According to the IRNA agency, the line-up of the delegation accompanying Rouhani includes First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, adviser of head of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on international issues Ali Akbar Velayati, the ministers of foreign affairs, oil, industry, trade, information and communication technologies, as well as the Chairman of the Central Bank of Iran and other officials.

According to the Iranian news agency, the upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin on March 28 will be the ninth in less than four years of Rouhani’s presidency.

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