Iran Offers Tariff Concessions to EEU

This was announced in the Russian Agriculture Ministry’s report released after another round of consultations on a temporary agreement the creation of an Iran-EEU free trade zone attended by Deputy Agriculture Minister Evgeny Gromyko, Russian news agency TASS reported.

“In its maximum proposal presented at the round, Iran demonstrated its readiness to make concessions under the terms requested by member-states, in almost all items the EEU is interested in, excluding wheat, refined oil, mineral water and cigarettes,” the ministry said.

No agreements were made following the consultations as the two sides failed to reach a “mutually acceptable compromise; the negotiations will continue”, the report said.

Presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia approved the proposals on the launch of negotiations on setting up a free trade zone with Iran, Egypt, India and Singapore at the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union in December 2016, according to Financial Tribune.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said then that the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had expressed interest in signing an interim agreement with EEU, leading to the formation of a free trade zone.

On March 7, 2017, the intergovernmental committee of the Eurasian Economic Union made a resolution to start preparation for signing a related agreement. The document was approved following the results of the committee’s meeting held in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an international integration economic association of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The EEU came into existence from January 1, 2015, after it superseded the Eurasian Economic Community that functioned from 2000 to 2014.

The treaty on the establishment of EEU was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014, in Astana.