MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi discussed major global issues as well as a number of specific items on the bilateral agenda, paying special attention to trade and economic ties.
"Today we continued the conversation that took place yesterday in the Kremlin when Russian President Vladimir Putin received the minister, focusing on a number of specific issues and the international agenda, but we talked in more detail about bilateral issues, primarily trade and economic relations," Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with his Iranian counterpart.
The Russian foreign minister emphasized that despite the harsh Western sanctions imposed "against Russia and Iran in flagrant violation of the norms of the UN Charter, the norms of the World Trade Organization and other international legal agreements," the trade turnover between the two countries shows positive dynamics. "At the end of last year, it grew by more than 13%, coming close to the record set in 2022 - about five billion dollars, and the upward trend continues," he added.
The top diplomat also said that the talks broached preparations for the 18th meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, which will be held in Moscow on April 23-25.
"There, discussions will be held on key issues of bilateral infrastructural, logistical, investment cooperation, including the implementation of the flagship project to build the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the construction of the Resht-Astara railway section at the expense of the Russian loan as an element of the North-South international transport corridor, which, of course, will be of great importance for the rapid expansion of trade, economic and other ties in our region," Lavrov said. "We agreed to speed up the implementation of existing agreements related to the creation of conditions for the effective and full implementation of these two projects," he added.
The foreign minister also emphasized that the Russian side supported the initiative to further intensify business ties between Moscow and Tehran. "We are confident that this will contribute to the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran, which will enter into force in a month, on May 15, 2025, and, of course, will contribute to the expansion of trade turnover and, in general, the creation of more simplified procedures for mutual trade," Lavrov stated.