TASS- Visa requirements for visiting Russia and Iran soon may be dropped, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia�s Federation Council upper parliament house, said on Monday.

She mentioned a recent agreement, which suggested easier visa formalities for certain categories of travelers, and thus the number of trips from Iran to Russia doubled in 2015. The number of trips from Russia to Iran has also increased, she said.

"Our consular services continue consultations on further easing of the visa regime, including for organized tourist groups, and further on the visa requirement between our countries may be cancelled fully," she said.

The easier regime, or cancelling visas, she continued, "opens big opportunities for businesses, for youth, student exchanges, for tourist exchanges."

"This is important both from the economic point of view, it is important also from the humanitarian point of view for improvement of the friendly relations between our countries," the speaker said.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani will pay an official visit to Russia next year, the speaker added.

"I invited my colleague to pay an official visit to Russia and he accepted the invitation," Matvienko said.

The lawmaker said that Russian-Iranian contacts were growing rapidly. The Russian and Iranian presidents have met twice over the past year, she added. "This kind of dialogue between the leaders of our two states largely determines the atmosphere of Russian-Iranian relations as well as bilateral and international issues on the agenda," the Russian Federation Council speaker said.

Matvienko declined to comment on whether or not Iran�s president would visit Russia in the future. "This issue is being resolved at the heads of state level," she explained.