IRAN NEWS RCONOMIC NEWS

TEHRAN – The Eurasian Economic Union International Conference on the Geopolitical Role of Free Zones in Regional Development was held yesterday at Iran’s northern port Anzali.

In a video message to the International Conference of Eurasian Economic Union and Geopolitical Role of Free Zones, Iranian Minister of Energy said the country can play a pivotal role in cementing cooperation among member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Reza Ardakanian added the EAEU is an emerging organization among regional bodies.

“If a higher level of regional unity, cooperation and convergence is reached at this union, it has the potential to turn into one of key economic and even political hubs of the world,” said Ardakanian, who is charged with coordinating the implementation of the temporary free trade agreement with the EAEU.

“If the Eurasian Economic Union boosts its performance, it can protect its members and trade partners against the negative effects of globalization, and can also help them improve their capabilities for global competition,” he noted.

He touched upon the conflict between Armenia and the Azerbaijan Republic near Iran’s norther borders, saying closer cooperation between regional countries and the EAEU as well as the enhancement of mutual trade can prevent further insecurity in the region.

“Given the new nature of threats and the vast number of security conflicts and challenges in the expansive Eurasia region, it is necessary to make more efforts to boost economic convergence among the regional countries; the EAEU has pave the way for this important measure,” he said.

He underlined that cooperating with the EAEU should be considered as a national project In Iran, which requires coordination and cooperation among all executive bodies and the private sector.

“with a population of 183 million and a foreign trade volume of $ 750 billion, the EAEU has a 3.2-percent share in the world GDP,” he said, “The EAEU is a unique opportunity for Iran to expand its exports and reciprocal trade in favor of its economic development.”

The EAEU can play a big role in improving the political and security risk factor of its member countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said.

Meanwhile addressing the conference, the head of the Iranian Association of Geopolitics referred to Iran as a strategic connecting point between Asia and Europe, saying the country has an irreplaceable and unique geopolitical position in the world.

Yahya Rahim Safavi noted, “Today, the power structure in the world is slowly moving towards a new order.”

Stressing that the U.S. is no longer the world’s only superpower, he said, “The decline of American economic, political, and cultural power at the level of internal and global scale is definite.”

Referring to the failure of U.S. hegemony, the diminishing effectiveness of sanctions and other economic, political tools to put maximum pressure on independent Eurasian nations such as Iran, Russia he said, “Today we are witnessing the emergence of new economic, political, cultural and security powers on a regional scale in Oceania and Asia.”

Today, the Eurasian region has got an influential role in the global economy due to the Sea of Japan, the Caspian Sea as well as the Persian Gulf in terms of having resources of world fossil fuels.

Elsewhere, Safvai hailed Iran’s irreplaceable and unique geopolitical position in the world that can connect China, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and the Middle East to the Mediterranean and Europe, adding, “Transportation of Iranian goods to Russia and Europe is another economic axis that can be considered in the context of Iran relations with EAEU.”

The one-day conference was to explore the role of free zones in promotion of regional relations.

The problems facing economic activists for customs cooperation with the Union member states were discussed in the conference.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an international organization for regional economic integration. It has an international legal personality and is established by the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.

The EAEU provides for free movement of goods, services, capital and labor, pursues coordinated, harmonized, and single policy in the sectors determined by the treaty and international agreements within the union.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – The total value of bilateral trade between Iran and the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has stood at $2.4b in eight months since both sides implemented their preferential agreement.

Spokesman for the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration [IRICA] Mr. Seyed Ruhollah Lotfi said that since October 27, 2019 when the preferential trade agreement between Iran and Eurasia came into effect, the trade between Iran with the bloc has hit $2.4b in eight months in terms of value and 6.8m tons in weight.

He noted that the figure has been registered while the country and the region have been challenging with the Coronavirus pandemic since March.

Latifi said that since the major basic goods needed by the country are purchased from Eurasian Union member states and the goods are imported through the northern ports, imports account for 72 percent of Iran’s trade with the bloc and exports to the bloc account for 28 percent of the total trade.

He added that the amount of preferential imports from Eurasia was over $1.169b while the total imports stood at $1.73b. By the way, the amount of imports in terms of weight stood at 5.2m tons.

Latifi further said the amount of Iran’s exports to the Eurasian Union states stood at over $681m in eight months and it was over 1.65m tons in terms of weight.

He noted that Russia was the major exporting Eurasian country to Iran as Iran’s imports from Russia account for over 80 percent of its total imports from the bloc which valued at over $1.39b.

Kazakhstan with $287m and Belarus with over $33m were the other major exporting Eurasian countries to Iran. Armenia with over $10m and Kyrgyzstan with $5.6 were the other exporters to Iran.

Latifi also pointed some major goods which were exported by Iran to the Eurasian states, adding that fresh apple was the main exports to the bloc which accounted for Iran’s 14.5 percent of its exports. Pistachio, natural gas, fresh kiwi and dried for are the other goods which top Iran’s exports.

He reiterated that basic goods topped Iran’s imports from those states as the barley accounted for 27 percent of Iran’s imports.

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