Russian industrial giant seals deal with Iran

Technopromexport, part of Russia's state industrial conglomerate Rostec, will reportedly build a thermal power plant in Iran with a capacity of 1.4 gigawatts (1.4 billion watts).

The plant will be constructed in the port city of Bandar Abbas in about five years, says the business daily Kommersant in a report that was also carried by Reuters.

The project is estimated at €1 billion ($1.12 billion) and will be financed through a Russian export loan, the report added.

The contract with Iran envisages the construction of four energy blocks - each with a capacity of 350 megawatts - and a seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters of water per day.

Russia is expected to provide a loan to support 85 percent of the costs of the project. The remaining investments will be provided by Iran, added the report.

Indications have emerged lately that the two countries have devised serious plans to expand their economic cooperation.

Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mahmoud Vaezi visited Moscow this past week where he met several officials to discuss cooperation in a wide range of areas during his three-day stay.

Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who co-chairs the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation with Vaezi, told reporters after meeting the visiting Iranian minister that Tehran and Moscow are preparing a road map for dozens of joint industrial projects with Iran, adding that it would be signed by the related officials of the two countries in the near future.

"My colleague from Iran and I agreed to sign a road map in the near future on industrial projects. This map now is being worked out. On it are more than 70 projects, which will be implemented between Iran and Russia," Novak was quoted as saying by the Russian media.

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