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Russian government backs ratification of agreement on EAEU-Iran free trade zone — source

The signing of the agreement took place in December 2023 as part of a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. The Russian government’s commission on legislative activities supported the bill of the Foreign Ministry and the Economic Development Ministry on the ratification of a full-fledged agreement on the creation of a free trade zone between the countries of the EAEU and Iran, a source close to the commission told TASS.

"The government commission on legislative activities supported this bill," the source said.

The signing of the agreement took place in December 2023 as part of a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg. The document was signed by the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk and Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Abbas Ali-Abadi. The agreement was also signed by representatives of Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

After approval by the government commission, the bill will be submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

Following the signing of the document in December, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that it implies a significant reduction in non-tariff barriers and a noticeable improvement in commercial cooperation between the business communities of Russia and Iran.

As the Russian Economic Development Ministry explained, Tehran will provide tariff preferences for more than 95% of current Russian exports to the country, as well as establish a predictable and transparent trade regime. The Eurasian Economic Commission stated that the creation of a free trade zone with Iran will make it possible to increase the volume of its trade with the EAEU countries to $18-20 billion per year over the next 5-7 years.

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