Tehran, IRNA –The Head of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce, Hadi Tizhoush Taban, said that the share of the Russian ruble and the Iranian rial in mutual settlements between Russia and Iran currently exceeds 60 percent, according to head of Iran-Russia Chamber of Commerce.

Referring to the development Iran-Russia relations, Hadi Tizhoush Taban told IRNA in an exclusive interview that after the start of regional conflicts with Ukraine, the Russian Confederation was sanctioned by Western countries, exactly like Iran, which resulted in interest in cooperation between the two countries.

During the Iranian President's visit to Russia, the two countries agreed to increase the volume of trade exchanges to $10 billion, and Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the head of the Economic Commission of the Iranian Parliament visited Russia to expand economic, monetary and banking relations between the two countries, he added.

Tizhoush Taban stated that during the visit, the CBI Governor met and discussed with the deputy prime minister of Russia, the minister of economic development and the head of the central bank of the country, and discussed various issues, including the development of monetary and banking cooperation, solutions to remove some obstacles and expansion of investment.

Russia's 2.7-billion-dollar investment in Iran's oil projects

The Head of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce in his remarks added that this process not only bypasses the western sanctions, but also solves issues related to beneficial bilateral cooperation and increasing trade, which according to official statistics is now more than 40% of trade between the two countries in rubles.

He emphasized that Russia has become the largest foreign investor in Iran, having invested $2.7 billion in two Iranian oil projects, and this is about 45 percent of the total foreign investment in Iran from October 2021 to January 2023.

Tizhoush Taban further said that the Russian projects in Iran are multifaceted and include energy, railways, automobile manufacturing, and agriculture, and in parallel, Iran supplies Russia with food and automobile products.

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