Iran News Agency

The talks on preferential tariffs started two years ago, and now a list of the items that will be subjected to tariff cut is ready, Mehdi Sanaei told.

He said that Iran 's membership in Eurasian Economic Union will have a significant influence on facilitating regional trade, as customs tariffs cuts will ease the trade exchange between Iran and the member states of the union.

'Iran will probably join the union, and Iran and Russia have had various talks at the 14th economic cooperation meetings this year,' the envoy said.

It is scheduled that in the meeting of prime ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union in Kazakhstan in May, the issue of preferential tariffs agreement between Iran and the union be finalized, he said.

Commenting on the main development in Iran-Russia relations in the recent years, he said that Russian banks began financing the joint projects.

'Exim Bank, Gazprombank and Sberbank of Russia are cooperating with Iran on the issue,' Sanaei said.

Cooperation between Iran and Russia on energy will also be pursued, he said.

Six oil companies have signed a memorandum of understanding on oil with Iran, and Zarubezhneft was the first Russian oil company to sign two IPCs (Iran Petroleum Contract) with the National Iranian Oil Company in March.

The Ambassador expressed hope that the economies of Iran and Russia become less reliant on oil, while stressing the importance of the strategic good for economic development.

He also said that the agreement between Iran and Russia on buying Iran's oil was very important, as one of the main issues in the bilateral relations is insufficient financial resources, and half of what is gained through the oil sale is allocated to economic projects.