40 Russian regions have close economic ties with Iran

The announcement was made by Head of the Russian Federation's Regional Cooperation Workgroup Alexander Vitalivic in the first meeting of Iran-Russia inter-regional cooperation workgroup in Tabriz city, Northwestern Iran, on Monday. Yet, Vitalivic criticized the low volume of economic exchanges between the two countries, saying, "Given the existing commonalities of the two countries, the present volume is not acceptable." He said the current volume of trade is low because half of the Russian Federation regions have and support the relations with Iran. "The inter-provincial cooperation between Iran and 40 regions of Russia is an evidence testifying to this fact," he said. Vitalivic called on the two countries' officials to increase their efforts to further strengthen the economic cooperation between Iran and Russia. Iran and Russia are two strong neighboring countries which enjoy a special position in the international arena and have constant and continued consultations on key regional and global issues. Earlier, a senior Russian economic official underlined that bolstering economic and trade cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will serve the regional interests and development. Vice-President of Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Russian Federation Georgi Petrov underscored Moscow's desire to expand relations with Tehran, addressing the Organizational Meeting of Russian-Iranian Business Council (RIBC) in April. Petrov added that Iran and Russia's good economic relations will help the region flourish. He said that "Iran and Russia are among the world's greatest exporters of energy and the two countries' cooperation in the gas field serves the interests of all the consume countries".