TEHRAN (Iran News) – Value of Iran’s trade with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states during late October 2019-early June 2020, surpassed $2.11 billion, said the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).

He put Iran’s imports from the EAEU countries at over $1.52 billion, saying the country exported goods worth $584 million to these states, IRNA reported.

Close to 53 percent of the transactions were based on and within the framework of a preferential trade agreement (PTA) signed between Iran and the EAEU countries in 2018.

After several years of negotiations, Iran and the EAEU finally signed the PTA in May 2018 based on which about 862 commodities are subject to tariffs. The interim agreement enabling the formation of a free trade area between Iran and the EAEU officially came into force in October 2019.

Latifi said Russia has been the main target market of Iranian products in this period, accounting for over 53 percent of Iran’s total overseas sales to the EAEU members.

He added that following Russia, the other major destinations of Iran’s exports to EAEU states have been Armenia (23 percent), Kazakhstan (16 percent), and Kyrgyzstan (less than 1.5 percent).

In addition, he noted, Russian products have constituted over 87.5 percent of the total value of Iran’s imports from the EAEU states. Other major exporters to Iran have been Kazakhstan (over 18 percent), Belarus (two percent), Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

He listed Iran’s export items as fresh apples (accounting for 14.5 percent of the total overseas sales to the EAEU states), pistachios (11.9 percent), natural gas (8.1 percent), kiwifruit (7.2 percent) as well as raisins (three percent).

The IRICA spokesman added Iran’s imports included barley, wheat and by-products, corn for livestock, and sunflower oil.

Development of trade ties with Iran is important for EAEU members such as Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

The EAEU ‎is an economic union of states located in Central and Northern Asia and Eastern Europe. The ‎treaty on the EAEU was signed in May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan ‎, and Russia, and came into force in January 2015. ‎