Official: Iran’s Annual Trade with EAEU to Hit $15 Billion

Nariman said today in a press conference with Armenian media activists that the agreement on the establishment of the Free Trade Zone of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has been implemented since October 23.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an economic union of states located in the central and Northern Asia and Eastern Europe. The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union was signed on 29 May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on 1 January 2015.

He said that trade with the Eurasian Union countries could contribute up to 3% of Iran's trade with the Eurasian Union, raising to about $15 billion a year.

Nariman added that fruits, greenhouse products, such as cucumbers and tomatoes, nuts such as pistachios, raisins, and dates, food and fruit industries, fishery products such as shrimp, caviar and fish and poultry and eggs are among the products that Iranian traders can benefit from tariff reductions under the agreement.

In response to a reporter's question regarding the announcement of Aras plans to connect Iran-Armenia railway, the Managing Director of Aras Free Trade Zone said, “We currently have two study plans to revive Aras Free Trade Zone transit capacity in the rail sector. It will connect the city of Jolfa from the West to the Soraya spring on the Turkish border and from the East to Norduz and Aslanduz.”

Aras Free Trade Zone is situated in the neighborhood of the Nakhichevan autonomous region and Armenia, 137 km from the city of Tabriz.

The city of Jolfa as the center of this industrial-trade zone has a record of a hundred years in the field of trade and customs activities and is the joint border between Iran and Nakhichevan and is the busiest passenger border in Iran after Tehran airports.

Aras Trade-Industrial Free Zone connects Iran to the Caucasus, Russia and East Europe economic zones.

Last Sunday, Iranian Deputy Agriculture Minister for Commercial Affairs Ali Akbar Mehrfard said the trade and business agreement between Iran and the EAEU is an agreement of high level for Tehran, adding that trade opportunities created by the deal have opened a new chapter for his country’s exports of agricultural products.

The trade opportunity created for doing trade and business with the EAEU is the best and highest level of international agreements, Mehrfard said, in a “Conference of Familiarity with the Trade Opportunities of Iran and EAEU Agricultural Sector”.

“With access into the Eurasian market with a population of 200million, a new way will be paved for Iran in export of agricultural products,” he added.

This level of agreement has reduced trade tariff of agricultural products between Islamic Republic of Iran and Eurasian Economic Union, the Iranian official underlined.

Today, Iran’s agriculture sector is moving from traditional towards industrial agriculture, he said, adding, “In this regard, Iran’s regional and international markets should be developed in agricultural sector.”

The interim trade agreement inked between Iran and EAEU should be led to the free trade within three years, he emphasized.

Last month, Iran and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) started implementing the agreement on preferential trade on 862 products.

“The mentioned agreement is an outset of doing free trade and business with Eurasia; preliminaries of free trade with Eurasian zone are provided one year after the implementation of this trade agreement,” Head of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) Hamid Zadboum told FNA.

The agreement consists of 862 products, 360 of which have been given by Iran to Eurasia and 502 others by Eurasia to Iran.