Tehran, Iran, December 14
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Many agreements have been made between Iran and Russia to improve mutual trade, but steps are yet needed to turn them into action, an Iran-Russia trade official told Trend December 13.
"Currently the two governments enjoy close ties, but the trade turnover is not keeping up. We need to operationalize agreements that have been made between the two countries," Hadi Tizhoosh Taban, deputy chairman of the Iran-Russia Chamber of Commerce said.
"Problems still exist, especially regarding visa and tariffs," he underlined.
"We hope to be able to meet each other more and introduce our capacities and available services that we can offer."
"There are two issued running simultaneously. One is Iran’s joining the Eurasian Economic Union, which Russia says is making efforts to make possible. The other is the so-called green corridor by which Russia is going to give tariff discounts," Taban said.
However, he added, "We have not seen these turn operational. For example, it was said that protein and dairy products exports were going to be permitted, but nothing has happened in action."
Trade turnover between Tehran and Moscow jumped by 80 percent in 2016. According to Iranian sources, in the first seven months of the current Iranian year (since March 20), Iran exported worth $86.5 million goods to Russia.