TEHRAN (Iran News) – ead of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization Hamid Zadboum said that holding the first Eurasia Expo in Iran is a good opportunity to facilitate free trade talks with members of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Referring to the significance of holding this expo, Zadboum described it as an environment to better recognize Iran’s export capacity to EAEU member states.
Emphasizing that the EAEU with a population of 185 million people is one of Iran’s most important trading partners, the official said that a temporary agreement on free trade of 862 goods was signed between Iran and the EAEU in 2018 and was effective from 2019.
He noted that Iran tries to turn the agreement into a permanent free trade agreement with the EAEU.
Zadboum linked the relatively low participation in the expo by Iranian and foreign visitors to the coronavirus pandemic and consequent restrictions and said that he hoped participation would increase in the next edition of the event.
Eurasian Economic Commission Chairman Danil Ibrayev, Russian-Iranian Business Council Vladimir Obydenov, Head of Iran’s Foreign Ministry Multilateral Trade and Financial Cooperation Aziz Mansouri, Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali and several other Iranian and Russian officials attended the inauguration ceremony of the expo.
The Eurasia Expo 2021 is held July 9-14 in Tehran.
As reported, 30 companies from Russia, 30 companies from Kyrgyzstan, more than 10 companies from Armenia, more than 10 companies from Kazakhstan, and some companies from Belarus are participating in this four-day exhibition along with Iranian companies.
The companies participating in this exhibition are active in the fields of banking and finance, technology transfer, construction of large factories, silos, ports, wharves, oil tanks, shipbuilding, steel, and cement, as well as large sellers of livestock inputs and oil and agricultural products.
On the first day of the event, the members of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) and the Eurasian chambers of commerce held a meeting to exchange views on ways of boosting trade between the two sides.
According to the Managing Director of Iran International Exhibitions Company (IIEC) Hassan Zamani, due to the special conditions created by the coronavirus pandemic in the country, the exhibition is not open for the public and only traders, scholars, and businessmen whose field of work is related to the EAEU are allowed to visit the exhibition.
Iran and Eurasian Economic Union reached a free trade agreement in October 2018 based on which about 862 commodity items were subjected to preferential tariffs.
