Iran, Russia to Open New Chapter in Economic Cooperation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran and Russia are studying ways to open new chapter in their trade ties as they plan to establish a joint bank.
“Since Russian banks fear the implications of working with Iran due to sanctions, we want to establish the joint Iran-Russia bank with the help of our central banks and private sectors,” Head of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Asadollah Asgaroladi said.
“Such a bank would be able to exchange money between the two sides using (Iranian) rials and (Russian) rubles and put aside dollars, euros and pounds,” he added.
“We are responsible for our nation’s prosperity. Before the sanctions, we had 150 billion euros of deposits in the banks of West and Europe. When they sanctioned us, we transferred the money to other countries exactly where they don’t want to be,” Asgaroladi was quoted by Press TV as saying.
Last month, Iran and Russia agreed to boost cooperation in the area of economy and use national currencies in bilateral trade.
Eelier on Thursday, Iranian Minister of Agricultural Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati, during his visit to Moscow, said Tehran mulls exporting fruits and agricultural products to Russia.
Russia annually imports between 7 to 10 billion dollars’ worth of fruits and dried fruits mainly from European countries.
But with sanctions imposed by the US and EU on Russia over the developments in Ukraine, Moscow has introduced restrictions on fruit imports from European countries.
Tensions between Russia and the West heightened after Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March.