Iran said on Thursday that it has devised a package of joint projects with Russia, adding that the total value of the projects stands at $25 billion to $30 billion.

Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran’s minister of communications and information technology, told reporters after a meeting with the visiting Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak that the projects will give a significant boost to the volume of trade between Tehran and Moscow.

Vazei added that the grounds were also prepared during Novak’s meetings in Tehran over the past two days to devise a mechanism to provide funds for the joint projects between the two countries.

He said that Iran will soon send a high-ranking joint delegation to Moscow to discuss mechanisms to facilitate Iran-Russia financial transactions in line with the same projects.

The Iranian minister said that Russia plans to provide funds for two major pilot projects to determine the flaws in future joint projects with Iran.

Vaezi said one of the projects involves the establishment of an electrical train service from Garmsar in eastern Tehran to Inche Borun border town in the northeastern province of Golestan. Another involves the construction of a thermal power plant.

Novak, heading a 50-member delegation, arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss joint economic projects.

Vaezi told reporters after meeting Novak in one of his earliest meetings in Tehran that Russia has pledged to issue a credit line of $5 billion for joint projects with Iran. He said the credit line is expected to usher in a new era in Iran-Russia economic relations.

Novak’s s next key meeting was with Abbas Akhoundi, Iran’s minister of roads and urban development, during which he was briefed on 121 projects in Iran that Akhondi said could be carried out at a total cost of €25 billion.

The Russian minister also heard from Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh that Iran is ready to swap Russian natural gas, oil, and oil products through its southern ports.

By Press TV