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New Trade Opportunities for Iranian & Russian Companies |
"All people in Iran who are skeptic of Russia will be soon disappointed."
Making the above remark with his half-Iranian half-Russian accent, the
Russian ambassador to Iran added that Russian specialists have not abandoned
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. He also promised the Iranian people that Russia
will never let Iran down and Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant will be made
operational in the near future.
Alexander Sadovnikov stated that launching the power plant was demanded by
both countries and the project will never be stopped. "It is not true that
the Russian technicians have left the plant…. At present, three thousand
Russians are working at the plant and we hope that it would be launched
soon."
Rejecting any standstill in the operations, the Russian diplomat stated that
activities at Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant were halted for a few days due to
some repairs on the nuclear reactors and that they are now fully
operational.
"Russia does not seek to delay the project. We are stakeholders and its
launch is to our benefit," he added.
The Russian ambassador then pointed to banking problems faced by the Iranian
and Russian businesspeople and added that banking problems called for
serious attention.
"We must give time to our companies to exchange money with Iran. Some steps
have been taken which cannot be explained here, but I hope that this would
happen soon to facilitate monetary exchanges," he said.
Sadovnikov added that the UN Security Council sanctions were considered red
lines by Russia, but this did not mean that Moscow will close its doors to
other countries, especially Iran.
"We are interested in promoting relations with Iran and we hope to be able
to use potentialities of both countries for development of trade exchanges,"
he noted.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Iran-Russia trade, Sadovnikov
reflected on a meeting among Caspian Sea littoral states on development of
railroads.
He said, "Working groups comprising deputy ministers of foreign affairs will
meet soon followed by a Summit meeting and we hope effective decisions will
be taken."
The ambassador added that Caspian Sea cannot be left on its own and made
clarification of shares of littoral countries from the see conditional on a
final agreement to be reached by Iran and Turkmenistan.
He added, "Each country has its own views and reasons. Their differences
should be resolved through negotiations to determine the situation of
Caspian Sea."
The Russian ambassador also stated that according to available statistics,
trade volume between the two countries has reached 3.7 billion dollars which
is close to the figure announced by the head of Trade Promotion Organization
of Iran. |
