Iran, Russia sign customs cooperation agreement

TEHRAN,June 19(MNA) – Iran and Russia have signed an agreement for the enhancement of customs cooperation. The director of the Iran Customs Administration, Masoud Karbasian, and the deputy director of the Federal Customs of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Malinin, signed the agreement in Moscow on Tuesday. Russia was the 13th most important trading partner of Iran in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2014, according to the Iran Customs Administration. Annual non-oil trade between Iran and Russia amounted to $1.074 billion in Iranian calendar year 1392 (March 2013-March 2014). Russia exported $758.3 million worth of non-oil goods to Iran and imported $316.5 million worth of goods from the country in 1392. In February, the Iranian ambassador to Russia, Mehdi Sanaei, said that Tehran and Moscow have vast potential to boost their economic relations. “Economic cooperation is conventionally divided into two parts -- trade and industrial production. In both areas we have joint projects,” the ambassador stated. “There are some serious prospects in the automotive industry,” he said, adding, “We are interested in cooperating with the Russian automotive industry and are ready to make joint investments in various projects. “In addition, we can cooperate on energy issues in the Caspian Sea region. Finally, we can buy a few hundred megawatts of electricity from Russia,” he said. “Another area is the railways. We need hundreds of kilometers of railway tracks, and we are currently buying them from other countries, when we could buy them from you [Russia]. We also want to electrify our railroads, and Russia has vast experience in this field.”