TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi and visiting Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating bilateral ties and cooperation.
During the meeting in the Iranian capital today, Salehi and Novak discussed the latest regional and international developments as well as expansion of mutual cooperation.

The Russian energy minister, heading a high-ranking economic delegation, is currently in Tehran to attend the 11th Meeting of Iran-Russia Trade Council.

The 11th Meeting of Iran-Russia Trade Council will focus on issues related to energy, transportation, banking, industry, mining, agriculture and insurance.

Last month, Salehi said Tehran will sign a contract with Russia in the near future to build two new nuclear power plants in the Southern province of Bushehr.

"At present the AEOI deputy chief is negotiating in Moscow and the contract between Iran and Russia for building new power plants will be inked before the meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani which will be held within the next one month," Salehi said on the sidelines of a ceremony to inaugurate Bushehr nuclear power plant's desalination unit.

He said that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also pursued the negotiations in Moscow.

"We consider Russia a highly important neighbor and we hope that based on the words of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei), powerful Russia beside independent Iran can be important allies for each other," Salehi said.

In March, Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation and the AEOI reached an agreement to construct at least two more nuclear power plants in Bushehr.

In earlier remarks in June, Salehi underlined that Tehran and Moscow are on the right track to improve their relations.

"A new chapter in Iran-Russia relations has opened," Salehi, addressing a ceremony to mark Russia's National Day at the Russian Embassy complex in Tehran.

Salehi pointed to the age-old relations between Tehran and Moscow, and said, "It is now for many centuries that Iran and Russia have had relations, and they now need to further deepen their ties."

In May, Novak underlined that his country is seeking to improve trade ties with Iran.

" President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani have called for devising new mechanisms in order to remove the obstacles in the way of increasing trade exchanges," Novak said.

He noted that through formulation and implementation of such mechanisms, the necessary grounds for export of commodities and services from Russia to Iran and vice versa will be paved.

Iran-Russia trade currently totals USD 5 billion a year, but economists say the two countries can at least quadruple the volume of their trade exchanges.

On March 14, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Tehran is determined to raise the volume of its �economic transactions� with Moscow under long-term deals.

By Fars News Agency

 

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