The two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding for the purpose in 2016.
‘The world is in need of gas and Iran and Russia, using their rich capacity, can follow up common goals in the sector,’ said Araqi.
He said the NIGC has expertise in various fields, including laying gas pipelines, gas conservation, gas pressure stations and establishment of gas refineries, being ready for cooperation with Gazprom in the fields while benefiting from its experience in the areas.
Araqi said more than 3.3 million gas-fueled cars are in Iran and CNG can be one more area for cooperation between the two sides.
He continued that the NIGC and Gazprom enjoy valuable experience in gas and they can have cooperation in the sector.
Medvedev for his part said geographical proximity of Iran and Russia and their rich gas reserves as well as strong will of their political leaders serve as important reasons for mutual cooperation.
He said Iran decision’s to introduce new oil contracts model has helped Russia get a new definition of the projects in the field.

The Wall Street Journal has said in a report that several US corporate giants including Apple, HP and Lenovo are actively exploring a market entry into Iran.
It said HP had last month circulated draft agreements with Iranian distributors to resell its consumer products, such as tablets and laptops, in Tehran.
Non-US HP staffers met the potential distributors in Dubai and Tehran, and last month held an internal meeting to discuss the opportunity, the Journal added.
Other American IT majors including Apple and Lenovo are already actively involved in serious business talks to enter the Iranian market.
Lenovo, the world’s largest PC maker by volume, last year hosted a key business meeting in the Iranian capital last year to introduce its latest products to Iranian traders. The company has strong American connections, but its Chinese ownership has made the Iranian entry easier, reported the Journal.
Last year, Apple started contacts with Iranian distributors about possibly entering the country with the full gamut of its business activities, including selling its iPhones, desktop computers, laptops and even opening Apple stores, should Western sanctions ease sufficiently.
Another US IT leader which has been reported to have already started to book its presence in the Iranian market is Microsoft. Iran’s media reported in September that the company has opened a shop in downtown Tehran to sell a variety of its products including mobile phones and tablets.
Other major American businesses that are looking into the prospects of investing in the Iranian market include General Electric and aerospace giant Boeing.
Last October, Boeing announced its first sales to Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
GE has also started talks with Iranian officials through one of its Italian subsidiaries to take up projects in the country’s oil and gas projects.

The upcoming exhibition follows Iran’s new model of oil contract—the Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC)–and Iran Petrochemical Forum (IPF) held in Tehran from November 28-29 and December 13 respectively.
Holding such events and the international oil companies welcoming of the event reveals Iran’s special status in global oil and energy industry.
Presence of international firms in Iran prior to official lifting of sanctions indicated that they are interested in Iran’s investment opportunities.
Companies from Italy, China, Turkey, the Netherlands, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Azerbaijan Republic, Malaysia, France, Austria, UAE, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Australia and Russia have so far voiced their readiness for attending the upcoming exhibition.
Meanwhile, the 12nd Kish International Energy Exhibition aimed at attracting investment will be held in the island from January 11-14.
Organizing international exhibitions in the country will provide a suitable platform to promote interaction between the Iranian and foreign companies to boost foreign investment.

In a meeting with a visiting Russian delegation, Seyf said conditions are now ripe for opening common accounts and establishing brokerage relations between Iranian and Russian banks.
He said exporters of Iranian goods to Moscow will be offered special incentives.
He added that the idea of joint account and brokerage ties had already been presented to the Russian side and the goal was not met due to sanctions but that now it can be fulfilled due to removal of sanctions.
He said lack of proper banking relations is an obstacle on the way of promotion of mutual commercial relations.
‘The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the projects that lead to promotion of volume of mutual trade.’
He also said that a team, comprising Iranian and Russian commercial banks, should be formed and expert-level sessions should be held to look into necessary grounds for elimination of the existing obstacles, taking concrete actions to expand banking relations.
Seyf also suggested formation of a technical committee to draw up mechanisms for opening credit lines.
On proper forex rate for Iranian exporters, he said there are two forex rates now valid in Iran, i.e. inter-banking rate and free market rate, due to sanctions.
He said exporters to Russia have been allowed to sell their forex in the free market and that’s a good support for exporters.
Meanwhile, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said that Iran and Russia have reached agreement on many projects and implementation of the projects need establishment of proper banking and financial relations between the two sides.
He hoped that during meetings between the two sides, mechanisms will be set forth and commercial banks of the two countries will soon settle their problems to expand mutual economic ties.
The Russian economic delegation, headed by Manturov, has visited Tehran to take part in the Iran-Russia commercial and industrial dialogue programs and the Russian National Exhibition.
Iran and Russia signed two Memoranda of Understanding on Monday for economic cooperation on sidelines of the Russian National Exhibition in Tehran International Fair.
The signatories to the agreement were Manturov and Iran’s Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh.
The two sides’ private sectors inked one more agreement, which envisions exchange of technology for production of combine harvesters.
The Russian National Industrial Fair themed Trade and Industrial Dialogue: Russia and Iran opened in Tehran Airshow Center, on December 21 and will end on December 23.
Among the invited government officials and dignitaries to the event were Surena Sattari, Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Yury Slyusar, President of United Aircraft Corporation; Anatoly Artamonov, Governor of Kaluga oblast; Alexey Tyupanov, General Manager, EXIAR; and Export support agency of Russia CEOs of over 100 Russian industrial and technology companies and the regional governors.
Besides over 10 conferences and seminars, the Russian side presents the 3,000 square meters exhibition with the most advanced technologies in Heavy Machinery, Transport and Agricultural Machinery, Pharmaceutical, Energy technologies as well as famous Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft and Sukhoi SuperJet 100 Business Jet. The event organizers invited the public to attend the event.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of visit to the 7th Kish International Exhibition of Maritime and Shipping Industry.
Nematzadeh said that National Development Fund has earmarked budget to finance buying maritime equipment.
He said that the specialized banks like Bank of Industry and Mines are expected to support foreign and domestic investors in a bid to build domestic vessels.
Fortunately, a large part of works to build oil and gas platforms are being carried out by domestic executives and the government prefers to build five other platforms by financing the projects inside the country.
Nematzadeh said that strategic program for maritime industry was drwan up and will be finalized and published soon.
The 7th Kish International Exhibition on Maritime Industry and Shipping kicked off on December 22. It will work until December 25, 2015 in the Persian Gulf Island of Kish.

Vaezi made the remarks on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of documents on expansion of economic cooperation between the two countries.
Speaking to reporters, he said the agreement enables both sides to take concrete steps towards swapping oil products.
Grounds are now well prepared for both countries to broaden cooperation in oil and gas sectors, he said adding that they also decided to make investments in Caspian Sea oil fields, he said.
It was agreed that the Islamic Republic of Iran make use of gas reserves in Azerbaijan and the Azeri side is allowed to share business activities in the field with Iran, Vaezi said.
Volume of trade exchange between Iran and Azerbaijan in the field of non-oil products stands at dlrs. 500 million but the total volume of their trade in oil and non-oil products hits over dlrs one billon.

“After foundation of the National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) and departure of foreign companies from Iran in the early days of the Islamic Revolution, the operation was completed by NIDC and the quality of work has increased in Iran,” Bahman Sourshi told Shana.

Speaking on the 36th anniversary of NIDC establishment following the decree by late leader of the revolution Ayatollah Khomeini, he said that oil rigns, despite their old ages, have been updated and Iranian experts have managed to boost the industry by using new technologies and launching training courses.

The only constraint in the drilling industry has been the lack of high-tech technologies due to sanctions which resulted in protraction of projects.

“Nevertheless, these limitations could not obstruct our drilling operations because the knowledge has been localized,” he added.

Saying that one cannot disregard effects of sanctions and the ban on strategic equipment, Soroushi also said that import of low-quality equipment in the past years has prolonged the process of repairing drilling rigs.

He said the new Iran Petroleum Contracts (IPC) stipulate that foreign firms shall employ Iranian partners in their projects which can bear positive results for the oil industry.

Referring to what he called an economic war on the country, Tayyebnia said, ‘This economic war is even tougher than the imposed war (1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran).’
Despite the existence of anti-Iran sanctions, the government managed not only to rein in soaring inflation, but also kept the economic growth rate positive over all the four seasons of the past year, Tayyebnia said.
The minister noted that in order to fight with ‘this full-scale economic war’ Iran has to make use of all its capacities.
Iran’s oil revenues in 2011 were as much as $120 billion which have reduced to $20 billion this year, Tayyebnia said.
Underlining the need to implement the policies of Resistance Economy urged by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the minister said that with completion of the country’s comprehensive taxing plan, Iran can slash reliance on oil revenues.

“Regarding Sukhoi 100 Superjets, we want to produce the components of the aircraft in Iran. This will be carried out through cooperation with Iranian partners,” Denis Manturov was quoted as saying by the Tasnim News Agency on Monday.
Back in November, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow might deliver a large batch of Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger aircraft to Iran by 2020.
The planes can be in part localized by Iranian producers if Tehran makes the political decision to purchase ready-made aircraft, he told Rossiya 24 TV during a two-day trip to Iran.
Sukhoi Superjet 100 passenger plane is described as Russia’s most modern commercial jet.
Boosting trade ties in post-sanctions era
The Russian minister also expressed the hope that trade ties between Tehran and Moscow could be boosted once the sanctions against Iran are lifted.
“We are all interested in eventually lifting the economic sanctions against Iran…This will significantly simplify the process of financial transactions, which is currently one of the main obstacles in further developing our cooperation in a number of areas,” TASS quoted Manturov as saying.
The Russian minister made the comments on the sidelines of Russian’s national exhibition in Tehran, dubbed “Trade and Industrial Dialogue: Russia-Iran.”
According to Press TV, representatives of 80 leading Russian companies have taken part in the exhibition seen as the biggest foreign display of the kind ever held in Iran.

In a three-day meeting in the city of Haikou in the province of Hainan in south of China, officials from both government and non-government sectors of the two countries examined such issues as Iran’s objectives in pursuing ties with China, proper grounds for mutual cooperation, Iran’s development requirements and Iran-China economic cooperation.

The initial idea of setting up a project to revive the ancient Silk Road was introduced by Chinese pesidnet in 2013. He believed the project will potentially introduce a new and expansive market for over three billion people.

China allocated dlrs 40 billion to projects to revive the Silk Road both in marine and land sections.

Iran’s geopolitical situation which has, from very old times, given it a particular situation along the Silk Road encourages China to seek Tehran’s special contribution in the project.

The Silk Road has connected Iran to China for over two thousands years, resulting in strong ties between two countries up to now.