Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union will study the possibilities of creating a free trade zone with Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. The EEU is an economic union of former Soviet republics, which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. “The EEU will begin [soon] studying the possibilities of creating a free trade zone with Iran,” Putin told a press conference after talks with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Tehran, Russian news agency Sputnik reported. According to Putin, as many as 40 countries are considering the possibility of signing free trade zone agreements with the EEU. Earlier this month, Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi said a decision on Iran joining the EEU may be made within three years.
