In an interview with IRNA correspondent on Sunday, Abolfazl Abutorabi said that such an agreement between Iran and Russia was nothing new because there were two 20-year and 5-year agreements in place from 20 years ago, but it was overlooked by the Iranian side despite Russia's eagerness.
President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration will extend a large part of the previous agreements, including accords on gas fields development and gas transfer which can render Iran the hub of gas swap in the region, he said.
Russia has a powerful technology in oil and gas extraction, the lawmaker said, adding that Iran already swaps gas with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
Abutorabi went on to add that Eurasian countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are great producers of wheat and demand for cement is so high in Russia and this can be a basis for trade with Iran where Iran, as a big cement producer, can export cement to Russia and import wheat from those countries.
The member of Iranian Parliament further elaborated that trade with Russia could also make other opportunities in agriculture, referring to Iran’s bell pepper export to Russia which has made a big number of jobs in Iran.
He further mentioned the potential for making long-term deals with Russia to import fresh water and put aside the water transfer plans which are detrimental to the environment.
Abutorabi also remarked on non-dollar payment system between Iran and Russia, saying that there are great potentials especially in the bilateral and multilateral currency agreements with Russia.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states are expected to move towards doing transactions – 20 percent in the first stage – with a single currency, he said
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