Iran’s three-day exclusive exhibition in Russia wrapped up in the capital city of Moscow on Friday.
The event, originally dubbed “1st National Exhibition of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Russia”, was attended by representatives of 110 Iranian companies from several economic sectors, including industries, commerce and tourism.
Improving cooperation between Iranian and Russian private sectors and exploring ways to increase their share of bilateral trade from the current $2 billion to some $10 billion in the near future were cited as the main objectives of the exhibition and a concurrent business forum on Thursday.
Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade new portal reported that Russia’s deputy minister of industry and trade, Georgy Kalamanov, and Iranian counterpart Mojtaba Khosrotaj attended the exhibition’s opening ceremony on Wednesday.
“Iran and Russia enjoy longstanding friendly relations and are consistently expanding cooperation in trade, economic and industrial sectors,” Kalamanov said.
According to the Russian official, the spectrum of mutual interests between the two countries is extremely broad and includes such industries as energy, oil and gas, transportation, high-tech and agriculture.
“This is especially valuable, given the current difficult situation in the region,” he added.
In a meeting between Kalamanov and Khosrotaj, the two officials explored avenues of enhancing economic interaction, funding for joint investment projects, eliminating logistical boundaries in exports to Russia, offering legal support to foreign investors and easing Iran’s entry into the Commonwealth of Independent States market.
Kalamanov invited his Iranian counterpart to take part in the International Industrial Innoprom Exhibition in Ekaterinburg, which is the main industrial exhibition of Russia, from July 11 to 14.
Green Corridor
Russia has recently floated the idea of a “Green Corridor” for exporting Iranian agricultural products to the neighboring country, which is primarily aimed at substituting sanctioned Turkish products.
“After the adoption by the government of Russia of sanctions on the import of agricultural products from the Republic of Turkey, the country’s [Russia’s] Ministry of Agriculture is actively working on the replacement of these products, first of all, by goods from Iran. It is this, in the first place, that the order to create a ‘green corridor’ is linked to,” Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Levin has been quoted as saying.
The deputy minister said the corridor will become operational “at full strength” by the end of 2016.
Relations between Moscow and Ankara deteriorated following the downing of a Russian Su-24 attack aircraft over Syria by a Turkish jet on November 24, 2015. In December, Russia introduced a set of economic measures against Turkey in response to the incident.
Iran exported its first shipment of 12 tons of different types of hard cheese to Russia early in March with another similar shipment exported in late April.
Iran’s Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said a $4 billion market is up for grabs in Russia for Iranian food producers, especially exporters of nuts, protein products, fruit and vegetables.
