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Free trade zone with Iran may include industrial, agribusiness products

The primary task at the first stage is to identify mutually interesting goods, according to Russia's first deputy minister of economic development

VLADIVOSTOK, September 1. /TASS/. The first stage of establishing the free trade zone with Iran may comprise light industry, agribusiness, and industrial products, Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexei Likhachev told TASS.

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"The primary task at the first stage is to identify goods of mutual interest. Obviously these are light industry and agricultural products from Iran’s side and machinery products from our side," the official said.

Creation of the free trade zone with Iran is complicated by the fact that Iran is not the member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Likhachev explained

"The difficulty is that Iran is not the WTO member. Import regulation rules are significantly different there. That’s why we need to not merely reduce tariffs but to agree upon principles of import flows regulations, make the system of goods turnover within Iran transparent. This is the main task of the [free trade zone] agreement," he added.

The free trade zone agreement with Iran may not be signed earlier than 2017, the official said earlier.

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