MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - The Iranian government intends to expand its cooperation with Russia, an Iranian official said Monday.

During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Gholamreza Aqazadeh, Iranian vice-president and the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization, said relations with Russia were very important.

"We have many joint projects that allow us to increase the volume of bilateral trade," Lavrov said, opening the talks. "The results of the first half of 2005 show the increasing rate of trade turnover between Russia and Iran."

Earlier in the day, Aqazadeh met with head of the Russian Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom Alexander Rumyantsev and discussed the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.