Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have called for stronger trade ties between the two countries, describing the current level of bilateral trade transactions as insufficient.
"The presidents decided to add an impetus to bilateral economic relations and intensify the contacts, the Interfax news agency quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Rouhani met and held talks with Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
In February, Iran and Russia signed two deals for boosting bilateral trade.
Former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak attended the signing ceremony, which was held at the end of the 10th annual meeting of the Russian-Iranian Business Council (RIBC) in Moscow.
During the meeting, Iranian and Russian business officials stressed the need for the exchange of trade delegations between the two countries and the enhancement of cooperation in the agricultural, power, and energy fields.
Since the establishment of the RIBC in 2006, Iran and Russia have signed agreements and called for the expansion of bilateral economic cooperation in various spheres, including nuclear energy and the oil, gas, industrial, and tourism sectors.
In January 2012, Tehran and Moscow started using the rial and the ruble in their trade exchanges and dropped the US dollar.