December 27, The Iran Project – The Vice-Governor of the Astrakhan region of Russia says Tehran and Moscow will have stronger political and economic relations if they learn the two countries’ languages and expand their academic cooperation.

Konstantin Markelov, the Vice-Governor of the Astrakhan region of Russia, made the remarks on Monday visiting a number of Iranian students.

Iran and Russia have always been willing to have dialogue, and language learning helps us resolve obstacles to mutual understanding, the Russian official noted.

Markelov went on to say that knowing each other’s language helps us to understand the two countries’ history and culture and motivates us to not only boost our cultural cooperation but to expand politico-economic relations.

Language is considered an effective tool for having better relations with other countries so Iran-Russia’s student exchange program and the development of the two countries’ languages can lead to the strategic cooperation of Tehran and Moscow, he added.

It is worth mentioning that Astrakhan province and the Islamic Republic of Iran have been cooperating for 21 years.  And the department of Iranian Studies in Russian Astrakhan University is one of the most powerful Persian language teaching centers which its achievements are recognized in Russian advanced universities.

In early 2015, University of Mazandaran in Iran and Astrakhan University in Russia signed a memorandum of understanding for academic cooperation, deciding to have a student exchange program.