Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 8
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Russia won't fully cooperate with Iran before the complete lift of the sanctions imposed on this country, Sergey Pikin, director of Russian Energy Development Fund said in an interview with Trend Oct.8.
The expert noted that the full cooperation with Iran which is currently under the sanctions of the international community, will lead to the increase of West's pressure on Russia and the country won't do that.
There is a quite serious pressure on Russia and there is no point to increase it, said Pikin, adding that the country will abide by the international law.
Meanwhile, the expert believes that the sanctions imposed on Iran will be lifted sooner or later and this will create opportunities for large-scale cooperation with this country.
"Currently, Iran is the most interesting subject for investments in terms of opportunities," he noted.
"The population is large, there is a lack of investment in economy, so any investment will give a huge profit now," said Pikin. "For this reason, not only Russia, but other countries as well are very interested now in Iran. Therefore, the flow of investment will only increase."
He said that Iran and Russia could cooperate in a number of areas ranging from agriculture to oil and gas sector and nuclear energy.
"Those projects that were carried out before the introduction of sanctions against Iran, will be further implemented," said Pikin.
In particular, he said that the Lukoil Russian oil company was cooperating with Iran even before the sanctions were introduced, and the company says it will continue its activities in Iran.
"I think it is more profitable for Lukoil to return there, so that the investments that were made previously, would continue to work," he said.
Moreover, the expert recalled that the Russian company Rosatom has repeatedly stated that it is ready to work on a nuclear power plant project in Iran's Bushehr and build new units.
Pikin said that the economic difficulties, faced by Russia today, would not prevent its participation in Iran's projects and investments for these projects will be made.
"Rosatom has a special system of financing for international projects," the expert said, adding that this allows implementing international projects at low rates through special funds, allocated by the state-owned banks under governmental guarantees.
He said that moreover, Russia could offer Iran its technologies in a number of areas.
"From the point of view of some technologies, we can well compete in Iran with the Europeans and Americans, though in not all areas," Pikin said.
Iran and "Six" international negotiators reached a historic agreement on the settlement of long-term problem of the Iranian atom in mid-July. In case of fulfilling this agreement, the international sanctions will be lifted from Iran. This will allow foreign investors to cooperate with the country.
Edited be CN
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