Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 6 / Trend F.Milad/
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev held a phone conversation on Thursday where they emphasised the need to use national currencies for bilateral trade in a bid to give a boost to their economic ties.
They also stressed the U.S. dollar would be not be used in the two-way transactions, the Mehr news agency reported.
Both sides also pushed for finalising a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which was signed by the leaders of the five countries attending the third Caspian Sea Littoral States' summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 18, 2010 to boost security cooperation among their counterparts.
The MOU underlines that the Caspian Sea littoral states should help maintain secure passage of shipping and navigation on the Sea.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi has said that the value of trade ties between Iran and Russia could reach $10 billion dollars annually, the press TV reported. Mr Salehi said the current volume of Iran-Russia trade falls short of their potential.
"The two countries can cooperate more in the political, economic, trade, and cultural areas, as well as in oil and gas and the construction of power plants to raise the value of bilateral trade to $10 billion dollars a year," he was quoted as saying.