EEU to finalize free-trade deal with Iran

IRNA - Eurasian Economic Union is going to make a free-trade deal with Iran by the end of year 2017, according to a British newspaper.

EEU to finalize free-trade deal with Iran

The deal when finalized would be a big step in strengthening relations between the EEU member states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyztan and Armenia, with Iran, and a victory for the body itself, the report published yesterday in Financial Times reads.

 “The EEU’s prime ministers resolved in March to make talks with Tehran a priority, scenting an opportunity to expand beyond the bloc’s combined market of 183m people,” according to the British newspaper.

The report highlights that the efforts by the economic bloc’s members, headed by Russia, for extending ties with Iran are made amid the US President Donald Trump’s provoking rhetoric asserted in his recent visits to Saudi Arabia and the occupied Palestine.

Financial Times also refers to the geopolitical cooperation between Iran and Russia, particularly the war against terrorism in Syria.

 “The two countries have sought to deepen their relationship since the EU and US imposed sanctions on Moscow in 2014,” adds the report.

A treaty aiming for the establishment of the EEU was signed on 29 May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on 1 January 2015.