Iran’s Ambassador to Russia has said that the free trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will be signed on 25 December 2023 (4 Dey 1402) at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, attended by officials from the six signatory countries.
Kazem Jalali added that once the agreement is signed, around 96% of Iran’s goods exports to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia — the EAEU’s member states — will be exempt from customs duties, while those countries’ exports to Iran will enjoy the same advantage in return.
He described the Iran–EAEU free trade agreement as a very major deal, noting that the negotiations took about three years and that, at their conclusion, the five member states were required to announce their consent — which they duly did.
The Iranian Ambassador to Russia noted that with the five EAEU members having declared their approval, the Union’s free trade agreement with Iran is set to be signed on 25 December (4 Dey).
When the Free Trade Agreement Takes Effect: After Parliamentary Ratification
Answering another question, Jalali recalled that the free trade agreement with Iran will enter into force once it has been ratified by the parliaments of the six signatory countries.
He noted that the parliaments of the five EAEU member states usually ratify related agreements quickly, and voiced the hope that Iran’s Majlis would pass the agreement under the urgency procedure during its current term.
The Iranian Ambassador in Moscow, pointing out that the agreement will be submitted to the Majlis as a government bill, was emphatic: the longer ratification is delayed, the longer the country goes without the agreement’s benefits.
Recalling that Iran and the EAEU signed their interim preferential tariff agreement roughly four years ago, he said trade between the two sides has tripled over that period.
With the free trade agreement in force, Jalali noted, the goal is to raise trade between Iran and the EAEU members to $40 billion in the years ahead.
Earlier, in Mordad 1402 (July–August 2023), the EAEU’s trade minister said the negotiations on the text of the permanent free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and the Islamic Republic of Iran had been concluded — meaning the text was ready to go through the necessary procedures, including signing and ratification, which he believed would be pursued quickly.
Andrey Slepnev, speaking to IRNA’s correspondent in Moscow, added that he hoped the EAEU’s free trade agreement with Iran would be signed by the governments before the end of 2023, after which it would have to be ratified by the parliaments of the parties.
The EAEU member states, he continued, are serious about expanding cooperation with Iran, and under these conditions the agreement is expected to clear the parliaments swiftly.
IRNA News Agency
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