Iran and Eurasian Economic Union agree terms of FTA 

Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union have established the terms for a free trade agreement involving more than 7,500 types of commodities. Financial Tribune reports the head of the Iranian negotiation delegation, Mirhadi Seyyedi, as saying: “Over the past two years, we have held around 30 rounds of negotiations with representatives of the Eurasian side, some face to face and others online. At the end, we agreed on a 150-page deal, which is the most comprehensive trade agreement [Iran has had].”

Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union had signed a three-year provisional agreement in Astana, Kazakhstan, on May 17, 2018, for the bloc to welcome Iran into EEU. The arrangement, which has lowered or abolished customs duties, is the first step toward implementing free trade between Iran and the five members of the union.

According to Seyyedi, Iran’s trade with EEU is mostly focused on agricultural products. “Our imports mostly constitute cereals and oilseeds. In return, Iran exports apple, vegetable and greenhouse crops at zero tariffs,” he said. He also noted that EEU has agreed to include about 95% of its traded goods in the agreement. The official said that since the preferential trade deal in 2018, bilateral trade has doubled between Iran and EEU from $2.5 billion to $5 billion a year.