TEHRAN (Iran News) – The head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said that an agreement inked between Iran and the Eurasian Trade Union (EAEU) is a test to prepare infrastructures for trading with the world.
The Iran and EAEU agreement caused Iran to identify infrastructures of trade exchanges and plan to remove problems that will be faced in the future, said Hamid Zadboum, according to Mehr News Agency.
Turning to the process of cooperation with EAEU, he reiterated, “In addition to the current members, other countries, including Uzbekistan, are in talks to join the union, and yet others, such as Singapore, Vietnam and Iran only intend to sign a free trade agreement (FTA), or carry out economic exchanges.”
According to him, membership in an economic union such as EAEU requires customs and economic integration, which is time-consuming.
Zadboum said as the first year of agreement ends, negotiations for free trade will begin, which will cover a wider range of items.
The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Mehdi Mirashrafi, said on August 11 that trade between Iran and the EAEU has reached $2.6 billion since October 27, 2019 – the date when the FTA between the two sides was signed.
He said Iran has exported 1.9 million tons of products worth $762 million to the EAEU member states, while importing 5.5 million tons of goods worth $1.8 billion tons.
Mirashrafi listed the top three export destinations as Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan.
He said, however, that top exporters to Iran in the nine-month duration were Russia with 4.3 million tons of goods, valued at $1.5 billion, and Kazakhstan with 1.1 million tons of goods, worth $298 million.
The IRICA head added that basic goods and livestock food constituted over 95 percent of Iran’s imports.
Iran and the EAEU started implementing the agreement on free trade for 862 products as of October 27, 2019.
- source : Iran Daily
