Rouhani, Putin to Discuss Trade at SCO Summit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani are expected to hold talks on the expansion of trade and economic ties between Moscow and Tehran as they take part in a security summit in Tajikistan, a Kremlin official said.
He did not say whether they would touch on an "oil-for-goods deal" which Tehran and Moscow have been discussing as a way to bypass Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine crisis and on Tehran over its nuclear program.
"Naturally, the main focus will be on strengthening trade and economic ties," Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow at a briefing on Wednesday before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.
He said Russia and Iran were concerned about a "certain trade decline." Kremlin data showed an almost one-third decline in trade turnover to $1.6 billion last year following Western sanctions against the oil-producing Middle Eastern nation.
The meeting between Putin and Rouhani is to be held on Friday.
Russia is looking to supply grain worth up to $500 million per year to Iran in exchange for oil, Russia's state grain trader said, in a further reduction to the value of a long-negotiated barter deal between the two countries, the Moscow Times reported.
Energy Minister Alexander Novak told state-run Rossyia-24 television that negotiations on the "oil-for-food" deal had not started yet but did not rule out the possibility of a deal being completed in the future.
Ushakov said the two leaders would also discuss progress with Iran's nuclear program, as well as the Iraq and Syria crises.
The SCO groups China and the former Soviet republics of Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Iran has observer status.