MOSCOW: Moscow and Tehran have significantly accelerated the bilateral relations in various spheres in recent times.
The two countries especially attach great attention to the development of trade and economic ties.
After Russia imposed bans on Turkish exports to the country following the military helicopter incident, Moscow is now considering Tehran as one of the main source of food import to the country.
The Islamic Republic also seems very satisfied with such a situation as it creates opportunity for Iran to export more goods to the vast Russian market.
Thus, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has asked for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intervention to facilitate exports of Iranian food to Russia.
Although Russian officials cited Iran as a possible new source of supply after ban on imports from Turkey, there are also some obstacles that unable Iranian goods’ access to Russian market.
Mohsen Jalalpour, a head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce said the Iranian exporters face hurdles to access the Russian market, noting that after a decade of trade relations, Iranian food still faces limitations for entry into Russia, the Tasnim news agency reported.
Tough import regulations and tariffs have still in place in Russia for imports from Iran.
Jalalpour noted that the Russian customs is levying 17-18 percent tariffs of $7,500 from each container of agricultural products while they didn’t get from Turkey and some other regional countries.
Turkey was the main beneficiary of Russia’s ban on food imports from the European Union and the U.S. Russian officials say they plan to replace imports from Turkey with those from Central Asian countries, Iran and Morocco.
Iran has tried to step in to fill the vacuum left from the absence of Turkish exports to Russia but Jalalpour said Iranian exporters have to take the initiative and find customers.
He called on the exporters have a presence in target countries and do marketing themselves instead of waiting for customers to come to them.
The economic and trade cooperation between the long-time allies began to strengthen after the Iran nuclear agreement, which provided ground for removal of the international sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Putin, who visited Tehran in November, said Moscow is ready to extend a $5bln state loan to Iran to promote industrial cooperation. Russian state lender Vnesheconombank will grant another 2 billion euro export loan to the Islamic Republic.
Putin said the two countries have selected 35 priority projects in energy, port facilities, and railway electrification. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Tehran and Moscow have devised a package of projects that are collectively worth $35 billion to $40 billion.
Before it plunged to $2 billion, Iranian-Russian trade turnover was $4 billion in 2013.
