In a meeting between deputy minister of industries, mining and trade and head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Valiollah Afkhamirad, and the Eurasian Economic Union’s minister in charge of trade Andrey Slepnev in Moscow, the two sides discussed avenues for expansion of mutual trade.
It was decided that starting from October, experts from EAEU and Iran’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance officially start exchanging commercial information, IRNA reported.
In an EAEU meeting in Armenia in May, Slepnev had announced the union’s plan for signing a free trade agreement with Iran, describing the country as “EAEU’s key partner in the Middle East.”
The Eurasian Economic Union is an international organization for regional economic integration. It has international legal personality and was established upon the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union. Member states of the EAEU are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russia.
Boosting Exports to Russia
Afkhamirad also attended a meeting with Iranian traders based in Russia at Iran’s Embassy in Moscow, to discuss removing trade barriers and expanding business relations with the Russia.
He emphasized the need to boost the volume of exports to Russia, noting that the establishment of new shipping lines between Iran and Russia is aimed at facilitating bilateral trade.
Earlier in June, TPOI signed a memorandum of understanding with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines Group to launch two new shipping lines in the Caspian Sea, connecting Iran’s northern ports of Bandar Anzali in Gilan Province and Amirabad in Mazandaran Province to Aktau in Kazakhstan and Astrakhan in Russia.
The need to expand trade between Tehran and Moscow was also echoed in a meeting between Afkhamirad and Russian Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Georgy Kalamanov.
