EEC: it is necessary to develop the initiative to establish EAEU  trading houses in Iran

ArmInfo.It is necessary to develop the initiative to establish EAEU trading houses in Iran and  in the territories of other promising partner countries.

Minister in charge of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission  Andrey Slepnev stated speaking at a forum titled "Russia 2030 and the  new world economic order: key factors and the role of business", held  as part of the Russian Business Week 2024 at the Russian Union of  Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the press service of the Eurasian  Economic Commission reports.

The minister reminded the event participants that as a result of the  signing of a full-scale free trade agreement with Iran at the end of  last year, exclusive conditions for access to the market of this  country were achieved. "We have already doubled trade during the  temporary agreement. We expect that after the permanent agreement  comes into force, we will repeat this doubling in a short time. We  hope to reach $12 billion within about three years and further  increase our trade with Iran to about 18-20 billion compared to the  current $6 billion," he said.

At the same time, according to Andrey Slepnev, only the trade  agreement is not enough for the immediate growth of trade. In this  regard, he highlighted the initiative on trading houses, which the  Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs has already  launched several times. "We need to think together about how to  properly structure this initiative. We are entering complex markets  where non-standard approaches are needed," noted the EEC Minister of  Trade.

In this regard, Andrey Slepnev informed that negotiations on free  trade with Indonesia and the UAE are now active, and the EEC expects  to reach final agreements with Egypt. In addition, the Commission  hopes to intensify the Indian track, given the importance of this  country for the North-South economic corridor.  "I would also like to  draw attention to Vietnam, with which our first free trade agreement  was concluded.  To be honest, we are not very pleased with how  business responded to it: new companies are not entering the  partner's market actively enough. But this is still the gateway to  the region, and they treat us very well there, so I recommend that  businesses take a closer look at this country," Andrey Slepnev  addressed the entrepreneurs.

Separately, he focused on relations with China. On the one hand, the  economic growth of the world's largest economy is slowing down, and  on the other, trade and economic ties between China and the EAEU are  growing sharply. The EEC is currently analyzing the relevant  information and hopes to reach agreements with Chinese partners to  balance trade flows.

"Within the framework of the existing non-preferential agreement with  the PRC, we are becoming a little cramped: the scale of interaction  goes beyond the framework that was laid down in 2015. Now we are  conducting a practical discussion of the scenarios that scientists  have developed in terms of prospects for deepening our trade and  economic cooperation.

They are different: there is a scenario for finalizing the current  agreement, there is a scenario that China has long proposed for a  free trade zone (which we are unlikely to be ready for now), there is  an intermediate scenario for limited preferential coverage, where  there are certain prospects. Here we also count on close interaction  with business," Andrey Slepnev summed up the Chinese topic.