Russia, Iran agree to expand cooperation in oil and gas production and environment protection

TEHERAN, February 22. /TASS/. Russian Minister of Natural Resources Sergei Donskoy and Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Sunday agreed on further cooperation between the two countries in oil and gas production. "We discussed with the Iranian minister of petroleum prospects for Russian companies’ participation in oil production and exploration sector and a possibility of training Iran’s oil sector specialists at Russian educational establishments," Donskoy told TASS after the talks. Apart from that, he said he had met with Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh to look at possible use of Russian geologists’ experience in prospective for deposits of iron and precious metals, coal and other minerals in Iran. On Saturday, the Russian minister met with Iran’s Minister of Energy Hamid Chitchian. The sides agreed to expand cooperation in the area of management of water resources. A corresponding memorandum of intent is to be signed soon. They also discussed a wide range of issues of possible cooperation and experience exchange in the area of the study of water resources, the balance of subsoil waters, water treatment and desalinization of sea water. The minister also agreed to pool efforts in the study of the climate change and its impacts on water resources. "Our Iranian colleagues demonstrated great interest to prospecting of subsoil waters, since Iran is suffering from fresh water shortage," Donskoy said. "We agreed to use Rosgeologiya’s /Russia’s biggest prospecting holding/ possibilities to prospect for new water-bearing layers. So, this area of cooperation is among the most promising. We also discussed with Mr. Chitchian the issue of training Iranian hydrogeologists in Russia." Apart from that, the Russian minister took part in an environmental conference that was also attended by Iran’s Vice President and head of the Environmental Protection Organization Masoumeh Ebtekar. "I was impressed by the new technologies Iran uses to purify water and by the system of protection of natural reservoirs of fresh water that is supplied to Iranian cities," Donskoy said. "Also, we had a possibility to see a wide network of protected territories and nature reserves with water resources, rare animals and nature landscapes." He said he had discussed issues of cooperation between Russia and Iran in the area of environmental protection with a special focus on efforts to preserve biological resources of the Caspian Sea. Donskoy and Ebtekar signed a protocol on the protection of biological diversity of the Caspian Sea and the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, also known as the Teheran Convention. This framework document was signed on November 4, 2003 in Teheran by representatives of the five Caspian littoral states, namely Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. The objective of this convention is "the protection of the Caspian environment from all sources of pollution including the protection, preservation, restoration and sustainable and rational use of the biological resources of the Caspian Sea." Read more