Iran, EAEU may sign free trade zone deal by end of 2023
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has completed a substantive discussion of all the provisions of an agreement to set up a free trade zone with Iran so that the document can be signed by the end of 2023, according to Andrey Slepnev, the EAEU minister of trade.
Slepnev was quoted by Belarus Today on Monday that the date for the signing of the agreement to set up a free trade zone with Iran will be determined by the presidents of the EAEU members.
He said, however, that negotiations on the agreement have been completed and it will be available for signing in the coming months.
“We are now polishing the document and I hope the process will be completed within a month. We then plan to report the results to the prime ministers in Sochi in early June [during the summit of the CIS and EAEU heads of states] … and I think there is a very high probability that we will sign an agreement with Iran this year,” he said.
Slepnev explained that the agreement on a free trade zone with Iran can multiply the volume of mutual trade.
“We expect that the signed document will enable us to increase our trade from the current $6 billion in a mid-term period of 5-7 years to $20 billion; these are quite real figures. Iran is a very serious partner, it is a big country.”