Iranian Delegation to Visit Russia in March
EghtesadOnline: An economic and commercial delegation led by Vice President Mohammad Khazaei is scheduled to pay a two-day visit to Russia on March 5-6 to attend Iran-Russia Economic Cooperation Commission, Iran-Russia Chamber of Commerce said.
Accompanying Khazaei, who also doubles as the head of the Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, will be Economic Affairs and Finance Minister Masoud Karbasian and Asadollah Asgaroladi, the chairman of Iran-Russia Chamber of Commerce, as well as a host of Iranian businesspeople and economic players.
Iran is facing a huge trade deficit with Russia since 2015, before which bilateral trade stood at $2 billion, with Iran’s exports accounting for half of the sum.
In 2015 and 2016, Iran exported $400-500 million worth of goods to Russia and its imports reached $1.5-1.6 billion, according to Financial Tribune.
Iran mainly exports agricultural products, including dairy, livestock and horticultural products, cans and conserves such as pickles and jams, chocolate and biscuit, flower and petrochemical products to Russia. It imports wood, machinery, agro machinery, spare parts, paper (reexported from Finland and Sweden), iron and reinforcement bars (reexported from Belarus) and sugar (reexported from Cuba) in return.
According to Iran’s commercial attaché to Russia Farhad Parand, Iran exported $228 million worth of goods to Russia during the first half of 2017, indicating a 36% increase compared with last year’s corresponding period.
The official added that imports from Russia to Iran stood at $509 million during the period, showing a 16% decline year-on-year.
“Iran-Russia bilateral trade stood at $737 million over the period, registering an over 3% decrease compared with the corresponding period of last year,” Parand was quoted as saying by IRNA.