Russia, Iran Agree to Settle Bilateral Trade in National Currencies

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the statement, the agreement was signed on Thursday in the course of the 4th plenary session of the Permanent Russian-Iranian Commission on Trade-and-Economic Cooperation’s working group on financial and banking cooperation in Iran. The Russian delegation was headed by Bank of Russia Deputy Governor Dmitry Skobelkin, while the receiving party was headed by Vice Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Gholamali Kamyab.

"During the meeting, agreements were signed between the commercial banks on the financing of mutual supplies of products using in the [respective] national currencies," the statement said.

Aside from signing the deal, the meeting participants discussed issues of the further development of cooperation in the banking sector, including the establishment of correspondent relations, the development of bilateral trade in national currencies as well as combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

In June, Hossein Yaghoubi Miab, the director general of the international affairs department of Iran's Central Bank, told Sputnik that Tehran and Moscow could reach an official agreement on making transactions in national currencies "very soon."