The meeting will be co-chaired by Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji and Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

Iranian and Russian experts from different economic sectors will explore all avenues in 20 working groups to promote bilateral cooperation and prepare the ground for outlining a comprehensive memorandum of understanding (MOU) by beating off the existing challenges.

Owji and Novak will sign the cooperation document on the last day of the meeting.

The expansion of cooperation in the fields of trade, economy, oil and gas, monetary and banking, transportation and logistics, customs, industry and mine, agriculture, water and electricity, science and technology, environment, and health and sanitation will be the main topics the two countries will discuss during their sessions.

The Iranian and Russian officials have earlier announced that the 17th edition will be held in Tehran on February 28.

Over the past two years Iran and Russia, both facing US sanctions, have developed cooperation in all areas to neutralize the unjust sanctions.

 The 16th meeting of the Iran-Russia Joint Economic Committee was held in Russia from October 29-November 1, 2022.

The two countries signed four documents for cooperation in a variety of areas at the end of the mentioned meeting.

The strategic document for the development of bilateral relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation was signed by Owji and Novak, who co-chaired the meeting.

A loan MOU was also signed between Iran’s Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ali Fekri and Vladimir Ilyichev, Russia’s deputy economy minister for the signaling of the Incheh Borun-Garmsar railway project.

Meanwhile, a bilateral memorandum was also signed by Mohammad Hossein Niknam, the director-general of international cooperation at Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and Russia’s Deputy Minister of Health Sergey Glagolov for cooperation in the field of health and medical education.

Also, another MOU was signed between an Iranian and a Russian holding for the implementation of EPC projects for product transfer pipelines.