Iran and Russia will sign the agreement on opening of customs “green corridor” in May

Almaty. April 29. Silkroadnews – This May Iran and Russia are going to sign the agreement on opening the green customs corridor, Iranian news agency (IrTAG) reports.

“Iran solemnly promises: we will replace the whole of Turkey in the deliveries of perishable goods to Russia. We’ll go there in May to sign a green corridor deal,” said the chief of the Federal Customs Service Andrei Belyaninov at a conference on administration in the free economic zone in Crimea.

It was noted, the “green corridor” shall simplify the customs procedures and help to speed up a number of formalities for customs inspection and clearance documents formalization.

Previously, co-chairman of the Russian-Iranian Intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Iran could supply to Russia around $1-billion worth fruits and vegetables annually. Russia intends to buy Iranian pistachio nuts, dates and grapes. Russian retail chains said they are ready to increase purchases of food products from Iran, in some cases Iranian products can even replace the Turkish ones banned due to the sanctions imposed by Russia.

According to the ministry of agriculture, in 2015 Russia’s exports to Iran made 3.1% of its total agrarian exports, i.e. $484.4 million in absolute figures.

In terms of value the basic agricultural commodities supplied to Iran from Russia in 2015 were grain crops, including wheat and barley (91%) and sunflower oil (5.1%).

In turn, imports from Iran in the total volume of Russian imports of agricultural raw materials and food in 2015 accounted for 0.7%, or $194.3 million. Basically Russia imported from Iran vegetables, fruits, dried fruits and nuts.