Trade with Eurasian Economic Union important for Iran

Mar 14, 2021, 11:58 AM

News ID: 84263284

Trade with Eurasian Economic Union important for Iran

Tehran, March 14, IRNA - The growth of trade exchanges between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates the importance of international business for the economy of the Islamic Republic.

The trade value increased two percent in 2020 to stand at 2 billion dollars, despite the fact that many countries around the globe were facing economic aftermaths of the coronavirus lockdowns.

Seyed Rasoul Mohajer, Deputy Minister of Economic Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, believes that the main reason of the growth of trade exchanges between EAEU and Iran is a preferential tariffs agreement, which was implemented from November 2019 to November 2020.

The EAEU is a market consisting of around 200 million population in its member states with the total GDP of about 5 trillion dollars. The union tries to promote trade and services among member states as well as direct joint policies in energy, agriculture, transport, customs, trade and foreign investment.

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a deal to initiate the Eurasian Economic Union in 2014; then Armenia and Kyrgyzstan joined the union one year later.

The Islamic Republic proposed creation of a free trade zone between the EAEU and Iran in 2017, which was accepted in 2019.

At the invitation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani heading a delegation visited Yerevan in 2019 in order to take part in the meeting of heads of member states of the union.

***Significance of EAEU for Iran

The Eurasian Economic Union is considered a superpower in terms of energy, because its member states possess one-fifth of natural gas of the world. The member states have nearly 15 percent of oil and gas markets as a whole. Therefore, the union is the biggest producer of oil, gas and natural gas throughout the world.

In addition to oil and gas, the member states have a say in power generation and coal mining. Nine percent of electricity energy is being generated by the EAEU member states; so, it stands third among the big power generators in the globe. It also produces around six percent of world's coal reserves.

Expansion of economic ties between the EAEU and Iran can make up for parts of costs inflicted by US sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

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