MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2023) Tehran views its relations with Moscow as strategically important, especially for the economy, and plans to further develop them, Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi said on Thursday.
"We define our relations with Russia as strategic and we are working together in many aspects, especially economic relations," Khandouzi told the Financial Times, adding that Russia and China are Iran's two main economic partners and that Tehran was going to expand these relations through the implementation of strategic agreements.
During the current financial year, which ended this week, Russia invested $2.76 billion in various sectors of the Iranian economy, including in industry, mining and transport, the minister said.
Russia and Iran significantly bolstered their ties after Russia started its military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the Western countries imposed sanctions against Moscow soon after that.
In May 2022, the two countries agreed upon mutual payments in national currencies. In January, Moscow and Tehran signed an agreement connecting their national inter-bank communication and transfer systems.
