TEHRAN - Iran and Russia have signed a comprehensive railway transit agreement, preparing to significantly ratchet up bilateral ties in transportation.
Iran’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qassemi and Russia’s Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev have signed the agreement on Wednesday, as Qassemi was in Moscow.
The Iranian minister traveled to the Russian capital to discuss the enhancement of bilateral relations in the area of transportation and finalize past agreements.
During the signing ceremony, Savelyev said Russia viewed Iran as a “hub of commerce and transit” in the region and said that the completion of an Iranian railway route that would help connect Northern Europe to the Indian Subcontinent would give the countries in the region, including Russia, “many transit benefits.”
Qassemi said Iran viewed Russia as an important neighbor with historical ties, adding the two countries could neutralize US sanctions by collaborating with each other.
Earlier, he had called the development of transportation infrastructure a prerequisite for the enhancement of the economic ties between Iran and Russia.
On his trip to Moscow, Qassemi is being accompanied by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari, a number of deputies at the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the director of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization, and the CEO of Iran’s Mahan Airlines.

Iran, EAEU Hold New
Round of Trade Talks

A new round of talks was held between Iran and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to finalize the text of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and determine list of commodity which is going to be exchanged between the two sides.
The talks between Iran and EAEU was held in Russian capital of Moscow on Tuesday and Wednesday April 26-27 in the presence of representatives of Iran and five EAEU member states.
Negotiations have focused mainly on finalizing the text of the FTA, Advisor to the Head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) for International and Trade Agreement Affairs stated.
In formulation of FTA, it was stipulated that tariff on about 80% of goods on both sides will gradually reach zero level and the tariff on remaining 20% of goods will remain unchanged, Seyyedi emphasized.
Negotiations between the two sides will continue in coming months, so that FTA is sealed and signed before termination of the current year.
TPOI started negotiations with the EAEU as of second half of 2010 to negotiate turning Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) into a Free Trade Agreement.
Four rounds of talks have so far been held in-presence between the two sides and more than 15 rounds of talks have been held through video conference.