Duty-free access for goods will allow member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to increase exports to Iran.
As Day.Az reports, Kira Danilcheva, head of the department of special issues of trade regulation of the Trade Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), told Trend about this.
As the EEC representative explained, a full-fledged free trade agreement between Iran and the EAEU was signed in December 2023. This agreement significantly expands trade relations, providing preferential access for almost 90% of goods. It also improves tariff conditions compared to the Interim Agreement, which limited tariff cuts on Iranian goods to 4%.
Danilcheva noted that trade between the parties is developing in both directions: the export of EAEU goods to Iran is growing steadily, and Iranian products are entering the EAEU market.
“Taking into account the traditional export specialization of the EAEU economies, duty-free access will help increase exports to Iran of such goods as grains, meat products, dried vegetables, ice cream, chocolate, confectionery and others. In the industrial group of goods, access conditions have been improved for metal products and timber products complex, chemical products, vehicles, agricultural equipment, household appliances, etc.,” she said.
Let us recall that since 2019, trade between the EAEU member states and Iran has been carried out within the framework of the Temporary Agreement aimed at creating a free trade zone between the EAEU and Iran, signed on May 17, 2018. A full free trade agreement between Iran and the EAEU was signed in December 2023. Chairman of the EEC Board Bakytzhan Sagintayev said that the agreement is expected to come into force in the near future.
In addition, on December 26, at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg, Iran was granted observer state status in the EAEU.