Moscow, Sept 4, IRNA – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, who headsthe Iranian side of Iran-Russia Commission on Economic Cooperation,declared Russian side’s readiness to start talks on investing $10 billionin Iran’s oil projects.
In an exclusive interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA),Ardakanian elaborated on achievements of his second trip and meeting withthe Russian energy minister and head of Russian side of the JointCommission Alexander Novak, and said that in the near future thesenegotiations will begin and we hope to achieve good results in this regard.
In another part of his interview, he pointed to Iran’s tentative presencein the Eurasian Economic Union as of first week of October, and said that”we have missed many opportunities because of the lack of organized andtargeted presence in the markets of the region and we should not lose anymore”.
Arguing that this may be the first treaty that Iran will actually gainactive experience in it, Ardakanian pointed out that a good market is infront of “us because it has a population of about 200 million and we willbe among the members by October and after the trial period we can finallybecome a member of this free trade zone.
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The Iranian Minister said that a lot of work is need in Iran’s privatesector to organize and plan because Iran has lost many opportunities in thepast due to the lack of organized and targeted presence in the regionalmarkets and “we should not repeat this experience anymore and I thinkRussia too will consciously lead” the regional market, with substantialinvestment in the sector.
The Russians have given their market of 140 million to several othercountries in the region to sell their products in this market usingpreferential tariffs and sometimes zero tariffs on some commodities, amarket worth $ 753 billion a year, he said. It is a business transactionand an opportunity that should not be overlooked.
