The third Economic Diplomacy Forum of Iran and Eurasian Economic Union on the Agrifood Industry is scheduled to be held on Feb. 13 at the IRIB International Conference Center in Tehran.
The event is organized by private businesses in cooperation with public institutions and embassies of EEU member states, Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.
With the conclusion of a free trade agreement between Iran and the EEU, the two sides are increasing their economic cooperation.
Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union signed a memorandum on free trade in Tehran on January 19.
The document was signed by Deputy Minister of Industries and Trade and head of Iran's Trade Development Organization Alireza Peyman-Pak from the Iranian side and the EEU commissioner for trade, Andrey Slepnev from the other.
“The agreement will be put into effect after formal approval of by the governments of member states by mid-1402 (Iranian year From March 2023 March 2024),” Peyman-Pak was quoted as saying.
“Today we held final talks and came up with a list of traded goods, based on which 90% of the traded commodities have been put on the ‘green’ list as 10% were designated as ‘forbidden’.”
By “green” list he referred to goods traded by the two sides at zero customs tariffs.
He noted that the signed documents will be approved by the EEU states within the next month.
Peyman-Pak believes with operationalization of the Iran-EEU free trade deal, bilateral trade per annum will exceed $10 billion in three years’ time.
Slepnev said he expected that the free trade agreement between Iran and the economic union would be signed quite soon.
"We held very important negotiations to settle a number of important issues. We are confident that the agreement will be signed in the near future," he told Sputnik.
The Russian official indicated that the EEU and Iran are seeking to scrap most tariffs and launch joint projects in such spheres as transport, industry, food production, and finance, pointing out that this will potentially create jobs in both Iran and the EEU and advance technological innovation.
The EEU and Iran have agreed upon virtually all issues in their negotiations on a free trade area, and only a few positions related to the agricultural sector have to be cleared, the Eurasian Economic Commission's trade unit said following EEC Trade Minister Andrei Slepnyov's visit to Tehran, Interfax reported.
Iran and the EEU signed a three-year provisional agreement in Astana on May 17, 2018, for the bloc to welcome Iran into EEU. The arrangement, which lowered or abolished customs duties, was the first step toward implementing free trade between Iran and the five members of the union.
