MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. A comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between Russia and Iran will be ratified very fast to become a new legal framework for the relations, experts said.
"I think the treaty will be ratified in a fairly short time, because there are no obstacles to its ratification. There is consensus in Russian society about this. The elite, the people, and the politicians all share a common point of view," said Andrey Bystritsky, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai International Discussion Club.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law to ratify the agreement, which cements the status of Russia and Iran as strategic partners and covers all areas, including defense, counterterrorism, energy, finance, transport, industry, agriculture, culture, science and technology. The agreement was signed during the visit of Iranian President Masoud Peseshkian to Moscow in January this year.
Grigory Lukyanov, a researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained that the signing had been postponed due to the change of power in the wake of the death of President Ebrahim Raisi.
"Despite the general global turbulence, the parties expressed their intention to adopt this document, which already establishes the basis achieved in cooperation between the two countries," the expert said.
"It is designed to make cooperation more understandable and predictable for regional partners, including investor countries, which Russia and Iran intend to involve in more active cooperation on the development of the international North-South transport corridor."
Lukyanov noted that the foreign policy turbulence around Iran is not a key factor slowing down ratification of the document.
"This agreement is primarily about trade, economic, cultural, and educational cooperation. Here it can become a truly long-term, new legal framework for bilateral relations," he continued.
"For Russian and Iranian businesses, which should operate more actively, in more predictable and understandable conditions, such an agreement is in the interests of bilateral economic cooperation and trade.".