With the implementation of the free-trade zone agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia will receive privileges for a number of products, including food commodities, Armenia’s Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said on Tuesday.
He noted that it is very difficult to export goods to Iran, but the main reason is not customs duties, News.am reported.
“Iran strives for self-sufficiency in all the main branches of the economy, and this sharply complicates competition. The main direction of cooperation with Iran is the joint production of goods that can be sold all over the world," Kerobyan added.
Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the implementation of the free trade agreement between Iran and the EEU is a priority for Armenia.
“Given the high dynamics of the development of cooperation with Iran, the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement and its subsequent implementation are priorities for us in the context of a real expansion of trade cooperation with third countries,” he was quoted as saying at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow.
He said continued negotiations with India and Egypt, as well as the development of comprehensive dialogue on the economic agenda and the deepening of trade and economic cooperation with the UAE and Indonesia, will give an additional impetus to the process of integrating the union into the world economy.
The Eurasian Economic Union may strike a deal on a free trade zone with Iran earlier than with other countries, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Overchuk was quoted as saying by TASS.
"We are closest with Iran," he said, when asked which countries the EEU is closest to reaching an agreement with on a free trade zone.
EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) Trade Minister Andrey Slepnev said earlier that the agreement on a free trade zone between the EEU and Iran could be signed as early as this year.
Overchuk said Russia is negotiating free trade zone agreements with a number of Muslim countries.
"Within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, we have been negotiating the creation of a free trade zone with a number of Islamic states, including Egypt, Iran, the UAE. We have already started negotiations with them and we are about to begin talks with Indonesia," he told the plenary session of the 14th international economic forum Russia-Islamic World: Kazan Forum on Friday.
"We see our bilateral trade growing and it may indicate that our countries are becoming closer to each other. Our task for today is to reduce trade barriers and simplify contacts, primarily in the economic sphere,” Overchuk said.