OREANDA-NEWS  Russia has become the largest investor in Iran, having invested $2.76 billion in the current fiscal year. This was announced by the Iranian Minister of Economy and Finance Ehsan Khanduzi in an interview published on Thursday with the Financial Times newspaper.

"We define our relations with Russia as strategic, and we cooperate in many areas, especially in the economic one. China and Russia are our two main economic partners. Iran plans to expand relations with them through strategic agreements," the minister said.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Iran, the volume of foreign direct investment in the country for this fiscal year amounted to $4.2 billion, two-thirds of the investments were in Russia. As the politician noted, we are talking about financing projects in the mining sector, as well as in the fields of industry and transport.

In January, representatives of the central banks of Russia and Iran signed a cooperation agreement to simplify financial and banking operations. As Khanduzi noted, Tehran held talks on this issue not only with Moscow, but also with Beijing and Ankara. However, "from a technical point of view," it is the Iranian-Russian financial infrastructure that is most developed, the politician noted.