Russian FM Due In Tehran To Boost Energy Cooperation

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due in Iran on Wednesday for an official visit, Tass news agency quoted Russia's ambassador in Vienna as saying.

According to Iran’s government news agency IRNA, the visit is aimed at boosting trade and energy cooperation as the two countries grapple with Western economic sanctions.

Lavrov is scheduled to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Thursday and discuss expanding cooperation with the Eurasian region and the Caucasus, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.

An exchange of opinion on a number of pressing international issues, including the Vienna talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as well as the developments in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Transcaucasus, Yemen and the Caspian Sea area will be discussed, the Russian ministry’s spokeswoman said.

Enjoying huge oil and gas reserves, the two countries are hit by sanctions that limit their ability to export their output. Last month, Moscow said Russia and Iran had discussed swapping supplies for oil and gas as well as setting up a logistics hub.

Earlier in June, Iran and Russia reached an initial agreement for launching a joint shipbuilding venture in the Caspian Sea region.

In January, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi visited Moscow, where he presented his counterpart Vladimir Putin with draft documents on a 20-year strategic cooperation that would cement collaboration.

The visit took place in an atmosphere of heightened public debate over the Raisi administration's emphasis to reach a 20-year deal with Russia similar to the 25-year cooperation pact with Beijing signed in March which became operational earlier in the year.