Mr. Owji said on Wednesday after meeting and talking for more than two hours with Igor Levitin, the visiting Russian president's senior aide, said that the negotiations were held following the previous memorandums and contracts in the field of energy and rail transport.

He continued: “In the transportation sector, discussions were held regarding construction of the Rasht-Astara railway line and the electrification of the Garmsar- Incheh Borun railway line, in a way that financing obligations will be fulfilled by Russian banks and since the senior Russian president aide had full authority, these projects will be implemented soon.”

Pointing to the signing of a $40 billion memorandum of understanding with Russian heavyweights, the petroleum minister said: “These include memorandums and contracts. Now, we have a contract with Russia for the development of seven oil and gas fields, which have made progress between 10 and 30%, and negotiations are underway for 14 other fields.”

Owji added: “The purchase and swap of gas from Russia has been finalized and will be signed in the near future in Moscow between NIGC and the Russian side. Negotiations were also held regarding the swap of petroleum products; Iran has a lot of capacity in the field of sea, railway and land transportation for the development of swap.”

He stated that good agreements have been held with powerful Russian companies and “in this meeting we reviewed all the issues of the agreement once again and examined the challenges facing them. Negotiations will continue on various topics including energy, transportation, trade and even sports.”

The head of the Iran-Russia Joint Commission pointed out that Russia will finance €5 billion in Iran's projects and plans, and continued: “€2.5 billion have already been earmarked for certain projects and are even being used in power plant projects; for the rest of this amount, we have defined projects whose contracts will be signed.”

Stating that both Iran and Russia have favorable capacities in the field of energy, Owji said: “Russia's total oil and gas reserves are very high and they are among the most influential countries in the world in terms of energy.”

Emphasizing that the cooperation between Iran and Russia in the field of energy is not one-sided and that Iranian companies have great power, he added: “Contracts for products and catalysts have been signed in the petrochemical industry, and the export of petrochemical catalysts to Russia has also started.”

Pointing out that most of the contracts and memorandums in the upstream oil sector are with Russia for the development of joint fields in Khuzestan, the petroleum minister said: “Another thing emphasized in the signing of the memorandum with Russia is the boosting pressure of the South Pars gas field, because the Russians have a good capability in this field.”

Owji emphasized: “Another challenge is the provision of financial resources, which Russian companies have agreed to provide financial resources in the seven mentioned fields, and the capacity of Iranian contractors should be used in implementation of the projects.”