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Development of bilateral relations discussed at Russia-Iran Business Forum

Development of bilateral relations discussed at Russia-Iran Business Forum

On December 13, Tehran hosted the Russia-Iran Business Forum, organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, the Russian Export Center, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation, the Chamber of Commerce of Iran, and the Joint Russian-Iranian Chamber of Commerce.

The Business Forum brought together over 800 guests and participants, including Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Vaezi, Minister of North Caucasus Affairs of the Russian Federation Lev Kuznetsov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Georgy Kalamanov, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture of the Islamic Republic of Iran Gholamhossein Shafei, Chairman of the Joint Russian-Iranian Chamber of Commerce Asadollah Asgaroladi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Russian Federation Mehdi Sanai, Governor of Ulyanovsk Region Sergey Morozov, CEO of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives Andrey Nikitin, the heads of Russian and Iranian companies, and representatives from the expert community and the media.

The Russia-Iran Business Forum was organized as part of efforts to promote the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which will be held on June 1–3, 2017 in St. Petersburg. According to Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation and Executive Secretary of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Organizing Committee, the Business Forum in Tehran is an opportunity to provide additional impetus to the development of Russian-Iranian trade and economic relations.

“Trade between Russia and Iran in 2015 was in the order of USD 1.2 billion, and has experienced substantial growth in 2016. Even so, we are a long way from reaching the limit and the prospects for further development of economic relations between our two countries are good. I am sure that the bilateral Business Forum in Tehran will identify promising areas where we can diversify and strengthen collaboration, and we look forward to continuing this discussion at SPIEF 2017”, Anton Kobyakov stressed.

The Forum opened with a plenary session which focused on the diversification of bilateral trade and economic relations. The business programme continued with a series of roundtables and discussions of relevant issues relating to cooperation between Russia and Iran: trade, economic, and investment collaboration, support for Russian and Iranian business at the government level, cooperation in the industrial, technical, and energy sectors, and the financial and banking industry.

Within the scope of the Business Networking Platform organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian Export Center, over 100 meetings took place between heads of Russian and Iranian companies.

Additional information can be found on the official website of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum: www.forumspb.com.

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