The Guardian: "Iran is developing cooperation with the European countries"

The US publication Bloomberg Business writes that Russia will have a dominant influence on world oil prices this year. The global situation on the oil market continues to be unpredictable. The leading oil producers continue to suffer from low prices for energy resources, and in some OPEC countries a surge of violence and political chaos has been marked. And in this environment Russia looks like the most important factor of influence on oil prices in 2016.

Last spring, Saudi Arabia repeatedly said that if a coordinated lowering production will take place, all countries, both OPEC and non-members of the cartel, would have to make decisions. However, no introduction of production quotas followed, and Moscow's position in comparison with Riyadh’s looks much more stable. The possibility that Russia and Saudi Arabia will agree on a reduction of oil production still exists, because the relations between the two countries have strengthened over the past year. The countries cooperate in matters relating to security and economics, they have signed an economic agreement worth 10 billion dollars last year, and in addition, Saudi Arabia has expressed an interest in buying Russian weapons.

Rumors that the countries can start negotiations on reducing the volume of oil production have led to the price of energy jumping by as much as 8%, but, after refuting the information, it has fallen again. Despite this trend, experts on both sides do not exclude the possibility of reducing production. In fact, there is no guarantee that the situation on the oil market will change in the near future, but it is clear that Russia plays a key role in this matter. The economic and political decisions made by the government, one way or another affect the global economy as a whole, once again highlighting the fact that Russia is still one of the major world leaders, not only in strategic, but also in economic terms.

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The British edition of The Guardian writes about the progress of Iran's cooperation with the European countries. The four-day visit by the Iranian president to Europe bore fruit: the total value of contracts signed during these days exceeded $40 billion.

The first contract of 22 billion euros was signed with Airbus. In an effort to upgrade its fleet, Iran ordered 118 Airbus commercial passenger aircraft, including 12 A380s, the world's largest passenger jet aircraft. The deal with Airbus is one of the largest contracts signed in the history of the Islamic Republic.

The Italian company-supplier of equipment and systems for the metalworking industry Danieli signed a contract for the supply of heavy machinery and equipment to Iran worth 5.7 billion euros. Another Italian company Saipem will update and modernize refineries in Iran for  3.5 billion euros. Several other European companies have offered their services in the modernization of the fleet, as well as the construction of new terminals at the airports of the country.

Despite the contracts that were signed  and the desire of the European governments to start cooperation with Iran, financing is still a big problem: the large European banks are still reluctant to carry out transactions related to Iran, as this can result in fines from the US Treasury. The sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program have been removed, and other measures of the United States against terrorism and human rights violations are still valid. Iran is a very attractive market in Europe, with a huge  potential for growth, but to invest in the state it is still necessary to wait for a complete lifting of the ban imposed by the international community on Iran.