Monday, October 22 2018 14:03

ArmInfo.The interim agreement on a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran will have a positive economic impact for all EAEU countries,  Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan said on  October 22 at the opening of the Eurasian Week-2018 forum in Yerevan.

According to him, the agreement opens up new perspectives for the  business of the Eurasian Economic Union, for which a huge market  opens up with 80 million people and with a high level of consumption.  "If we model business correctly, then, given the preferential  treatment of Armenia with the EU countries, Canada, the USA, and  Japan, a tremendous effect can be obtained. The business community of  the EAEU countries should study this issue to develop bilateral  relations," he said. Mher Grigoryan reminded that a free economic  zone operates on the Armenian-Iranian border, the presence of which  presupposes receiving certain economic dividends.

He believes that after the ratification process is completed, certain  trade processes will begin and it is Armenian enterprises that will  start using the first regime preferences. The business community of  the union will also begin to gradually get involved in the process.  "Both export and import potential is large, it is necessary to take  into account the possibilities of combined cooperation. The main  impact  is to get not only from bilateral relations, but also from  the combined interaction between the Union, Iran and the EU," he  concluded. 

To recall on May 17 this year on the platform of  the Astana Economic  Forum between the member states of the Eurasian  Economic Union and  Iran, an interim agreement on the formation of a  free trade zone was  signed. The parties agreed to reduce import  customs duties in mutual  trade for a period of 3 years, while Iran  granted tariff concessions  on 246 goods, and the EEU for 175 goods.  For Iran, the customs  duties on insensitive goods for the EEU will be reduced:  pistachios,  dates, figs, raisins, shrimps, melons, oranges,  lemons, limes,  confectionery, some types of juices, paints and  varnishes, dishes,  detergents, carpets, products from plastic. For products of the main  export interest of Iran (apples, tomatoes,  cucumbers), the EEU  provides only seasonal concessions in the absence  of production from  November to March. On average, as the Chairman of  the board of the  Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan noted,  the duties for  Iran on industrial goods will decrease by 7%, and for  the EEU  countries - by 3.3%. For agricultural goods, the average  level of  import duty rates for Iran will decrease by 19%, and for the   countries of the Union - by 5%."It is very important that this  agreement in the legal format be consolidated in our countries and,  of course, in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The free economic zone,  first of all, is an additional link connecting our economies. This  not only reduces logistics costs, but also provides an opportunity to  organize complementary production.  That is, the logic is that  manufacturers from Iran will import raw materials into this zone,  receive new products and without bureaucratic complicated procedures  already enter the market of the Eurasian Union, "commented the  signing of Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan during the  Astana Economic Forum. In his opinion, this process will also  stimulate the creation of the international transport transit  corridor "Indian Ocean - Persian Gulf - Black Sea".  This will be an  additional impetus for the development of cooperation with Vietnam,  with which an agreement has already been signed, as well as with  India and other countries with which negotiations are being actively  conducted.