Tehran, IRNA – The Iranian and Russian experts from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) and Sputnik news agency have attended a joint webinar to discuss bilateral relations in various areas between the two countries.

At the webinar, the two sides stressed that energy, agriculture, science and culture can be used by both as the fields to boost cooperation, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

The webinar was attended by Mousa Abdollahi, the director of international academic cooperation at Iran’s Allameh Tabataba'i University, and Ivan Zakharov, the head of the Middle East department in Russia’s Sputnik news agency. The editor-in-chief of the IRNA Europe and America desk was also present in the webinar.

In his remarks, Abdollahi said Tehran and Moscow enjoy close ties in the areas of energy and politics; meanwhile, the two sides should focus on fostering social relations.

He went on to say that academic relations between the two countries have had significant growth in the recent years.

Referring to the issue of language as one of the challenges to bilateral ties, Abdollahi said IRNA and Sputnik publish their news and reports in Russian and Persian, and it is so appreciable.

For his part, Zakharov said Russia and Iran as the world’s biggest oil and gas producers can expand their ties in those areas in order to help improve the market and adjust the prices.

He expressed the Russian companies’ willingness to invest in Iran’s oil and gas fields.

The Russian expert also pointed to the issues of energy, security and defense as important for both to counter common threats.

The video conference between Iranian and Russian experts from IRNA and Sputnik was held on Tuesday (August 27).

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