Financial Tribune - An economic delegation from Russia’s Samara Oblast concluded a visit to Iran's Mazandaran Province on Wednesday.

The Russian delegation held meetings with local traders and businesspeople and toured several production units in the northern Iranian province during their three-day stay.

“The delegation explored opportunities for expanding bilateral trade,” Esrafil Amiri, the head of the Foreign Ministry’s office in Mazandaran Province, told IRNA.

“Mazandaran is among the country’s top citrus-producing provinces and the delegation’s visit during the harvesting season could provide the platform for boosting citrus exports to Russian provinces,” he said.

More than 110,000 hectares go under the cultivation of citrus fruit in Mazandaran, which meet nearly 50% of domestic demand. Around 2.5 million tons are harvested there every year.

Mazandaran is home to 460,000 hectares of farmland producing around 6 million tons of agro products annually. Over 10% of value-added in Iran's agriculture sector is generated in Mazandaran Province.

Samara Oblast is a federal subject of Russia and the city of Samara is its administrative center.