Russia becomes largest investor in Iran this financial year — Finance Minister
LONDON, March 23. /TASS/. Russia has invested $2.76 bln in Iran becoming the largest investor in the country’s economy in the current financial year. Ehsan Khandouzi, Iran's finance minister, said this in an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday.
"We define our relations with Russia as strategic and we are working together in many aspects, especially economic relations," Khandouzi told the Financial Times.
"China and Russia are our two main economic partners [and] Iran is going to expand its relations with them through implementing strategic agreements," the minister said.
According to the Iranian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, this financial year, the volume of foreign direct investment in the country amounted to $4.2 billion and two-thirds of the investments came from Russia. As the politician noted, we are talking about financing projects in the mining sector, as well as in the fields of industry and transport.
In January, representatives of the central banks of Russia and Iran signed a cooperation agreement to simplify financial and banking operations. As Khandouzi noted, Tehran negotiated this issue not only with Moscow, but also with Beijing and Ankara. However, "technically speaking" the financial network is in a better situation between Iran and Russia than others, the politician noted.
