TEHRAN (Iran News) –Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) Alireza Peyman-Pak says member states of Eurasia in the small and medium industries like apparel, food industries, parts and equipment, medical equipment and medicines do not have brands but they are strong in other fields like crude oil, basic goods, coke, sheet and iron ore and Iran can take advantage in these fields.
Speaking to ILNA, Peyman-Pak pointed to the details of Iran’s free trade agreement (FTA) with EAEU and said that 90% of the goods are in the green line and tariffs of these goods which are around 8,000 items is also zero and tariffs are levied on only 10% of the goods as usual.
He added that Russians levied more tariffs on Iranian goods, adding that in the past year different sections of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade held several specialized meeting and the ministry tried to involve the private sector in this field.
Emphasizing the role playing of Iran in small industries of Eurasia, he said that Iran can take advantage of strong points of these countries like in iron ore, coke and basic goods.
Peyman-Pak went on to say that Eurasian member states import some $500b of goods annually and Iran has advantages in all fields which are required by Eurasian states, and on the whole a good market is ahead of Iranians and Iran can provided required raw materials with good prices from those countries in the sanctions era.
He noted that the free trade agreement has been signed by the ministries of EAEU states and it needs approval of their governments and parliaments and it will then come into effect in September 2023.
Meanwhile deputy head of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Mr. Kambiz Mirkarimi pointed to the agreement between Iran and EAEU and said that Iran can compete in the Eurasian markets because tariffs for 90% of goods are almost zero and it reduces the cost of trade for Iranians.
He went on to say that it is expected the trade volume between Iran and Russia to reach $5b by the yearend (mid-March) and this is possible the trade volume to hit $10b in 3 to 4 years provided that there will be no disrupt in the current trend of trade between the two states.
He then pointed to the necessity of developing infrastructures of transportation in Iran and said that if Iran wants to broaden trade in the region, it should provide facilities for developing transportation and it needs more investment in this field.
Mirkarimi added that in 2019, the trade volume between Iran and Russia was around $270m but with gradual tariff, Iran experienced 61% growth in exports in 2020 and it reached $473m and even the pandemic was unable to stop this growth and expressed hope by the year end a new record would be registered in trade between Iran and Russia.
