The five-nation Eurasian Economic Union has signed a three-year provisional agreement with Iran to welcome the Islamic Republic into the bloc’s free-trade zone.
“The temporary agreement stipulates an effective dispute settlement mechanism, including arbitration … It also creates a joint committee of high-ranking officials and establishes a business dialogue,” chairman of EEU economic commission board, Tigran Sargsyan, said at the ceremony in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday.
The arrangement is the first step in implementing free trade between Iran and the five members of the union, namely Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, RT reported.
The free trade zone agreement between EEU and Iran lowers or abolishes customs duties, setting off a three-year process for a permanent trade agreement, Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.
“The current agreement includes an initial list of goods with lowered or cancelled customs fees upon its enforcement. The agreement covers half of mutual trade," Sargsyan was quoted as saying by Armenpress, adding that bilateral trade reached $2.7 billion in 2017.
“Our negotiators have already set a long-haul objective for the next three years to agree a full-fledged accord on a free trade zone,” Sargsyan was quoted by Sputnik as saying.
EEU has also signed a trade and economic cooperation agreement with China.
May 18, 2018 18:08
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Iran, EEU Sign Trade Tariff Deal
The deal lowers or abolishes customs duties, setting off a three-year process for a permanent trade agreement
The biggest asset of the agreement for the union is access to the growing Iranian market with more predictable “rules of the game” in place
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