Talks Begins for Iran-EEU Free Trade

Iran and Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are holding talks on abolishing customs duties to reach free trade with zero tariffs, an economic official said. “Negotiations on free trade with zero tariffs have been going on between Iran and the EEU since last week…. If this goal is achieved, we will have a reach an unrivaled market because the EEU only has preferential agreements with Vietnam, Singapore and Serbia,” The advisor for international affairs and trade agreements of Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Mirhadi Seyyedi said on Wednesday. “Such achievement will bring positive fruits to our economic interaction in the region,” he added.

Seyyedi referred to Iran’s three-year provisional agreement with Eurasian Economic Union, which was signed in Astana on May 17, 2018, for the bloc to welcome Iran into EEU. He said that the arrangement lowered customs duties, but it is the first step toward implementing free trade between Iran and the five members of the union. The official stressed, “Enhancing trade with EEU will facilitate our [overall] trades and financial interactions.” Iran and EEU have listed 863 types of commodities in their trade agreement, based on which Iran will enjoy easier export terms and lower customs duties on 502 items and the same go for 361 items from EEU member states.

A senior official at Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said that both Iran and the EAEU were eager to remove trade tariffs for nearly 80% of the goods they exchange, reported Tasnim News Agency. “New talks for free trade started in February so that the two sides can negotiate over all goods they trade but 20%, which they have no interest in liberalizing,” said Behrouz Hosn-e Olfat, who serves as TPO’s head of Europe and America office.

Olfat said reaching a free trade deal with the EAEU may take years although he insisted that Iran is determined to clinch the agreement because of the long-term impacts it could have on business and economic activity in the country. The official added that the two sides have a potential to increase the value of their annual trade to US$30 billion from a current figure of US$3.5 billion. - Mehr, Tehran Times, Iran Daily