TEHRAN (Iran News) –  Chairman of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce says Russia’s import needs in the food stuff and agro products are valued at 70b euros while Iran only provides Russia with an insignificant volume of 0.5% of its needs.

Hadi Tizhoush Taban says although the route for Iran’s exports to Russia is very short and it can be a very important advantage for Iran than other countries like Egypt and Turkey, those countries’ exports to Russia are more than Iran’s. He added that even recently Turkey is working to replace a new route via Armenia for exporting its goods to Russia but still Iran has the shortest routes for exports to Russia.

Explaining the reasons behind Iran’s insignificant share of exports to Russia, he said that one of the reasons is the sanctions and due to sanctions, the banking system for transfer of money has been halted, adding that although Bank Melli Iran’s branch Mir Business in Moscow is active but the cost of transferring money is very high. He added that while the charge of money transfer is less than one percent in the world, it costs around ten percent for trade in Russia and for this reason economic activists do not welcome it. He reiterated that if these problems are resolved, Iran can have good economic relations with Eurasian states.

He also blamed the incomplete infrastructures, saying that Iran does not have suitable transportation fleet yet to carry the products safely. Tizhoush Taban added that lack of training of economic activists regarding exports regulations and being unaware of new routes for exports to other countries are of the main problems of Iran’s exports.

He noted that repatriation of the forex is the other problem for traders and a mechanism is needed forex return of the forex to the country.

He also expressed hope that new grounds for joint cooperation with other countries will be provided by the new government and urged the new government to work for Iran’s permanent membership in the EAEU and other economic blocs.

Tizhush Taban continued to say that Gilan Province has more than 400 years of experience in trade with Russia and said that Iran can reach easily Europe via Russia and the government should provide necessary grounds for this target.

He earlier had said that Iran and Russia traded $805 million worth of goods during the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22).

According to Hadi Tizhoush Taban, Iran’s exports to Russia stood at $333 million during the period, registering a 38% growth in terms of value year-on-year.

Nuts and dried fruit, fresh fruit and vegetable, plastic, fibers, iron and steel were the main exported products.

“Part of the 38% rise was due to an increase in foreign exchange rates [against the Iranian rial] as it was partly due to the lightening of problems caused by the coronavirus,” he said.

Imports from Russia stood at $472 million during the same period, registering an 8% decline compared with the corresponding period of last year.