BISHKEK (TCA) — A temporary agreement on establishing a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia may be signed already this year.
The negotiations between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran on a temporary free trade zone agreement are expected to be finished by the next EEU summit, scheduled for October 11, Sputnik news agency reported.
“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,” Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Board Tigran Sargsyan told reporters following a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on August 14.
In June, the EEC, which 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, the Iranian ambassador to Russia said that the country is interested in economic projects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, the EEU and the Chinese One Belt, One Road initiative.
The EEU is an international organization that encourages regional economic integration through the free movement of goods, services, and people within the Union.
