Iran and Russia will integrate their bank payment systems in the next three months. (Xinhua Photo)

TEHRAN, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The first stage of integrating the banking payment systems of Iran and Russia will be implemented in the next three months, Financial Tribune daily reported on Saturday.

It has been agreed that in the first stage of integrating the two countries' payment systems, Iranian citizens who have a Shetab (Iran's national payment system) card and Russians who own Mir Business Bank cards would be able to use ATMs of both countries," Seyyed Abu-Taleb Najafi, an official with Iran's banking affairs, was quoted as saying.

Iranian central bank officials announced that Iran and Russia had agreed to integrate their bank card systems.

Najafi said that the next phase of the plan would be to integrate Iran's payment system with international networks, which requires strong infrastructure on par with international standards.

"We are preparing the necessary infrastructural requirements for implementing the next phase of the plan by establishing a network in cooperation with a Russian company named BPC," he said.

By establishing these infrastructures, Iran will be ready for agreements with international payment networks and other countries' banks for integration of payment systems, Najafi said.

He added that the process of establishing infrastructures for integration with international payment systems would take at least 10-12 months.