Russian Speaker Arrives

Russia's upper house of parliament speaker, heading a high-ranking delegation, arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day official visit to discuss ways of relations between the two countries. The visit by Russian Federation Council Chairwoman Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko to the Iranian capital comes at the invitation of Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, IRNA reported. The top Russian lawmaker is to hold talks with senior Iranian officials on expansion of economic ties, regional cooperation and ways to help implement bilateral agreements signed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during an August meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan. Trade between the two countries during the first half of 2016 stood at $1.8 billion, almost 70% up from the same period of last year.