Russia to Begin Importing Iranian Foodstuffs Soon: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The first consignment of Iranian agricultural products, including seafood, will be exported to Russia in January 2015, a Russian official announced.
“It is planned to import 20,000 tons of high-quality trout and at least 3,000 tons of shrimps and seafood from Iran,” Alexey Alexeyenko, an official with Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) was quoted as saying by TASS.
Alexeyenko made the comments following a visit to Iran for what he said aimed to “coordinate quality-related issues and choose companies that will supply food products to Russia.”
According to the Russian official, Iran is expected to put a wide range of items in the list of exports, including dairy products, fish, seafood, vegetables and fruits.
He also stressed that trade transactions between the Iranian and Russian companies will not be carried out in US dollars.
“Settlements will be executed either in the national currencies or on the basis of supplies of products both sides are interested in,” Alexeyenko explained.
In September, Iran and Russia agreed to boost cooperation in the area of economy and use national currencies in bilateral trade.
Back on October 9, Iranian Minister of Agricultural Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati, during a visit to Moscow, said Tehran mulls exporting fruits and agricultural products to Russia.
Russia annually imports between 7 to 10 billion dollars’ worth of fruits and dried fruits mainly from European countries.
But with sanctions imposed by the US and EU on Russia over the developments in Ukraine, Moscow has introduced restrictions on fruit imports from European countries.
Tensions between Russia and the West heightened after Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March.
