Iran and the member states of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Armenia, signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in a ceremony in St. Petersburg on Monday, IRNA reported.
Iranian Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Abbas Aliabadi signed this agreement, which is the result of more than two years of negotiations and expert work, on behalf of Iran.
On behalf of the EAEU, the deputy prime ministers of the member countries signed the agreement. The signing ceremony was attended by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy Mehdi Safari, EAEU Minister in Charge of Trade Andrey Slepnev, Iran’s Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali, and a number of EAEU officials.
After signing, this agreement needs to be approved by the parliaments of six countries (Iran and EAEU five member states) in order to become a law and become operational.
According to the information received by the IRNA reporter in St. Petersburg from the free trade agreement between Iran and the EAEU, the parties will completely eliminate tariffs for 87 percent of goods in their trade exchanges.
In the meantime, each of the parties prepares a negative list that includes goods that are considered sensitive goods for one of the parties and it is not possible to remove the tariff.
Last week, EAEU Minister in Charge of Trade Andrey Slepnev said that Iran will become one of the most important trade partners of the Eurasian Economic Union with the signing of an FTA between the two sides.—Tehran Times
