“The agreement will officially enter into force after the ratification by the member states. I think their parliaments will not delay the process and will ratify it soon,” said UEE representative Mikhail Miasnikovich after signing the agreement.
To date, trade relations between the EEU and the Islamic Republic have been governed by an interim agreement since October 2019.
According to UEE projections, the signing of the free trade agreement will allow trade to triple from the current $6.2 billion to $20 billion over the next five to seven years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that thanks to the agreement, practically all goods produced in the UEE will have duty-free access to the market of the Persian nation of about 90 million people.
“Business circles of our countries, which maintain active trade relations with Iranian partners, are interested in this agreement. Now the conditions for business cooperation will improve significantly”, he underlined.
Within the framework of the summit, the EEU member states signed a roadmap for the organization's development until 2045.
Vladimir Putin, who chaired the meeting, emphasized that the adopted declaration is “a new project document that provides concrete measures to increase joint efforts in key areas.”
The leaders of the EEU, which includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, discussed the results of the organization's work in recent years.
In his speech, Vladimir Putin said that trade between EEU member states has doubled in the past decade.
“I would like to note with satisfaction that cooperation within the EEU is progressing successfully and leading to greater realization of the economic potential of our states. The EEU will soon complete 10 years. During that period, trade has almost doubled. From 1.6 to 2.5 billion dollars,” he said.
The President also noted that the Union has increased the use of national currencies in trade between member states to 90%, which will “undoubtedly increase”.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, a country that will take over as interim head of the organization from January 1, although Yerevan has recently withdrawn from other post-Soviet organizations led by Moscow and Russia.
In his speech, the head of the Armenian government stressed that the EEU “should not have a political agenda, should not have a geopolitical agenda.”
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