Eurasian Economic Union, Iran, Free Trade Agreement Effective From May 15

The full free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries and Iran will go into effect on May 15, according to Andrei Slepnev, the Eurasian Economic Commission Trade Minister. The EAEU includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. It fills the geographic space between Eastern Europe and Western China.

The EAEU said in a statement that the commission had received official notification from Iran about the completion of domestic procedures necessary for the full-scale FTA agreement to go into effect. Iran was notified in January that procedures in the EAEU had been completed.

Slepnev said “According to the agreement, following the exchange of letters confirming the completion of the necessary procedures, a period of 60 days is envisaged for the document to take effect. Therefore, the agreement enters into force on May 15, 2025.”

According to EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission) estimates, the new agreement will become an effective tool for the development of trade between the countries and will more than double trade turnover to $12bn. Russian companies will have preferential access to supply 90% of goods, which is 99.2% of current Russian exports to Iran.

The average duty rate for Russian suppliers will drop from 30% to 4.5%. At current export levels, this should save US$380 million in Iranian tariffs on Russian imports, Slepnev said earlier, citing EAEU estimates.