EEU expects to sign free trade deal with Iran this year
14 Aug 2017- A temporary agreement on establishing a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Iran may be signed in 2017, said the chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Board said Monday.
Tigran Sargsyan told reporters following a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Astana, Kazakhstan, "The decision has been taken to speed up the work to sign the agreement with Iran. We expect the document to be signed in 2017."
Negotiations between the EEU and Iran on a temporary free trade zone agreement are expected to be completed by the next summit, scheduled for October 11, Sputnik reported.
In June, the EEC, with is the bloc's main executive body, said that the EEU and Iran had finished working on the text of the temporary free trade zone agreement and that the sides will continue talks on liberalizing mutual market access and coordinating tariff obligations in the near future.
Earlier, Iran's Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei said that the country is interested in economic projects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, the EEU and the Chinese Silk Road.
In 2016, Russia and Iran agreed to pay for bilateral supplies of products in national currencies, stepping up economic cooperation.
The EEU, comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, is an international organization that encourages regional economic integration through the free movement of goods, services and people within the union.