OREANDA-NEWS. March 23, 2012. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia (CCI of Russia) has played host to an organizational meeting of the Russian-Iranian Business Council (RIBC).

CCI of Russia Vice-President Georgy Petrov, First Czech-Russian Bank Supervisory Council Chairman Roman Popov, CCI of Russia Foreign Economic Cooperation Department Director Sergey Vasilyev, JSC Orgenergostroy General Director’s Advisor for Special Projects Vasily Venikov, Amesco General Trading LLC representative office Head Alexey Maximov and representatives of Russian enterprises and companies attended the meeting.

CCI of Russia Vice-President Georgy Petrov opened and chaired the meeting. He said that the Russian-Iranian Business Council was formed in 2006 but had a complicated history due to some reasons. The current situation confirms the need for strengthening the leadership of the Business Council and for making it an efficient instrument to represent interests of Russian businessmen and to promote domestic business’ activity in the complex market important for Russia.

In the words of Georgy Petrov, Russia and Iran have a lot in common: the countries are neighbors, they have an access to the Caspian Sea and share oil production interests. The North-South transit corridor and interaction in gas production may become promising spheres of bilateral cooperation. In the words of Georgy Petrov, Iran is one of the largest economic partners of Russia in the Near East. Trade with Iran amounted to approximately USD 3.7 billion in the post-crisis period. Russian specialists assisted the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and cooperation in other spheres started to develop.

At the same time, it is necessary to keep in mind the political aspect – Iran is under sanctions of the UN Security Council – and Russian businessmen interested in cooperation must remember that, the CCI of Russia Vice-President noted. Interbank settlements are also a key problem, Georgy Petrov believes. Iran is interested in imports of Russian commodities with a high added value; machines and many other goods. Hence, the question of settlements is rather acute.

While describing inter-regional cooperation, Georgy Petrov singled out the Astrakhan and Saratov CCIs, and other territorial chambers of the Volga region, which view mutually beneficial cooperation with Iran as promising and interesting. In conclusion, Georgy Petrov expressed hope that the RIBC activity would be upgraded to an appropriate level.

The meeting elected First Czech-Russian Bank Supervisory Council Chairman Roman Popov as the RIBC Chairman. CCI of Russia Foreign Economic Cooperation Department Director Sergey Vasilyev, JSC Orgenergostroy General Director’s Advisor for Special Projects Vasily Venikov, Amesco General Trading LLC representative office Head Alexey Maximov were elected as the RIBC Deputy Chairmen, and First Czech-Russian Bank Vice-President for Foreign Economic Affairs Andrey Lugansky became the RIBC Executive Director by proposal of Roman Popov.

RIBC Chairman Roman Popov presented to the meeting participants his vision of the development of Russian-Iranian trade and economic relations; thanked for confidence expressed by the Chamber, and said that the RIBC would support preservation of the scale of Russian exports to the country, including machines, and assistance to Russian companies interested in bilateral cooperation with Iran. Also, the soonest agenda of the RIBC includes the opening of the Business Council offices in Moscow and Iran for operative solution of problems.

CCI of Russia Foreign Economic Cooperation Department Director Sergey Vasilyev addressed the meeting participants after that. He expressed hope that the RIBC would become an efficient instrument of trade and economic cooperation against the backdrop of complicated foreign political conditions. The CCI of Russia has sustainable relations with partners in Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the Russian leading partner in Central Asia, Sergey Vasilyev said. He regretted that Russian businessmen did not have sufficient information about the rules of business in that country.

The RIBC offered meeting participants to study the RIBC work plan for 2012 and to make amendments and proposals.

CCI of Russia Vice-President Georgy Petrov proposed to assume as a basis the work plan of the Russian-Iranian Business Council in 2012 and to consider other organizational issues.