Russia ship makes historic dock in Iran

A 5,000-ton Russian cargo ship has docked at the northern Iranian port of Astara in the Caspian Sea, in what has been the first such event in history of the Iranian port.

Rasoul Bahrami, the manager of Astara Port, said the ship, Pyotr Strelkov, carrying 1,175 packs of raw medium-density fibreboard (MDF) entered the port in Gilan Province on Thursday.

He noted that the cargo vessel left the Russian port of Astrakhan three weeks ago.

Bahrami added that 40 cargo vessels have loaded and unloaded more than 100,000 tons of goods at the port since March 2014.

Unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran’s banking sector by the United States and the European Union over Tehran’s nuclear energy program as well as recent Western bans against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine have prompted Tehran and Moscow to boost economic cooperation.

Iran and Russia also plan to establish a joint bank as an effort to boost bilateral trade and bypass sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s banking sector.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Russian President Vladimir Putin have held four meetings on different occasions after the Iranian president took office in 2013.

In September, Iran and Russia agreed to use national currencies in bilateral trade.

DB/HSN/SS