On March 25, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation hosted an extended meeting of the Russian-Iranian Business Council (RIBC), which was opened by Ilya Nesterov, Director of the Department of External Relations of the Chamber.
Russian Ambassador to Iran Alexey Dedov, First Counsellor of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Russian Federation Ahmad Reza Fallah, and Acting Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in Iran Andrey Blinnikov addressed the meeting participants with welcoming speeches.
The Chairman of the Russian-Iranian Business Council Leonid Lozhechko reported on the activities of the Russian-Iranian Business Council in 2024, the new executive directorate, and new members of the RIBC in his report.
In particular, he reported that the business council is actively working in such areas of Russian-Iranian cooperation as trade, industry, information technology, banking, transport and logistics, scientific and educational activities, and tourism.
On November 30, 2024, a signing ceremony of memorandums of cooperation between RIBS, the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad of Iran and the Jihad Esteghlal Institute took place in Tehran. RIBS takes an active part in the permanent Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. In total, more than one and a half thousand B2B meetings were held in 2024 with the assistance of the Russian-Iranian Business Council, Leonid Lozhechko said.
RIDS also works on the development of educational programs. In particular, in this area, the International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy of MGIMO, with the support of RIBS, taking into account the current geopolitical situation, is actively working to develop cooperation with leading universities in Iran.
Leonid Lozhechko introduced Natalia Zadonskaya to the position of executive director of Russian-Iranian Business Council and welcomed the companies that expressed a desire to join RIBS. The Chairman of the RIDS also made a proposal to create a legal entity on the Council's platform - the Association "Russian-Iranian Business Council", which will attract additional financial resources to organize support for members on the Russian-Iranian track, legal and visa support, information and consulting services.
Natalia Zadonskaya, Executive Director of the Council, reported on the work plan of the Russian-Iranian Business Council for 2025.
Representatives of VTB PJSC, Sberbank PJSC, Roseximbank, Mir Business Bank informed about current issues of Russian-Iranian business relations in the field of banking and cross-border payments. A number of reports were also made on current issues of Russian-Iranian business relations in the field of logistics and transport.
Summing up the meeting, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation Vladimir Padalko noted the importance of involving regions and local companies in bilateral cooperation. "We need to involve the regions as much as possible to understand what they are breathing, what is happening on the ground," said V. Padalko. He emphasized that there are many systemic issues in the economic relations between Russia and Iran that require attention and solutions within the framework of the Business Council, which should involve the intergovernmental commission in these decisions. "The task of the Business Council is to create a system that will allow us to inform each other about ongoing processes," said Vladimir Padalko.
The Vice President of the Chamber pointed out the need to work on reducing the cost of banking services, tariffs in the transport and logistics sector, so that tariffs ensure the reliability, timing and sustainability of entrepreneurial activity.
The problems identified at the Business Council should be immediately brought to the attention of the Ministry of Economic Development - coordination with the ministry is important, regarding which we have agreements, Vladimir Padalko said at the end of the meeting.
By Peter Cheremushkin,
Press Service of the Chamber
