TEHRAN – Moscow and Tehran will gradually abandon the practice of using U.S. dollars to assess the scope of bilateral trade, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“We all know that trade and economic relations between the two countries slightly exceeded four billion U.S. dollars last year, although it may be wrong to count it in U.S dollars, and over time, we will probably move away from this practice as we develop our cooperation in the banking financial sector,” Peskov told the Iranian state broadcaster in an interview, while addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran, adding that Moscow and Tehran are reliable friends and partners.
The official also said that net trade between Russia and Iran grew 31 percent just over the last few months, adding that the trend is positive.
According to him, Russia and Iran have an opportunity to build cooperation to mitigate the effect of sanctions.
Peskov also expressed hope that a cooperation agreement will be signed shortly after some amendments are approved.
“We hope (the deal will be signed) soon (...) after some additional changes are made and agreed upon, taking into account the opinion of the Iranian side. It will be possible to sign the deal fairly quickly and in the near future,” he concluded.