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Iran’s Guardian Council clears EEU temporary agreement
mIddle eaSt
IRAN’S top legal vetting committee, the Guard- ian Council, has con rmed the bill of temporary agreement for launching a free trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), according to Mehr News Agency on June 27.
Iran is hurriedly pushing ahead with plans to enter into an agreement with the Russian-led economic bloc which encompasses several for- mer Soviet Union economies as a means of pro- tecting its supply chains. EEU countries include Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyr- gyzstan currently.
e bill allows the government to authorise trading when other representative governments that are part of the bloc clear the FTA.
Previously, the bill went before the Iranian parliamentary commission where legal experts and clerics view such dra ed legislation. Unlike other legislation, such as anti-money launder- ing bills recently proposed, the EEU document cleared its round with the commission without a hitch.
In the debate at the commission, Iranian MP Ali-Akbar Karimi said: “Accession to the EEU would serve as a prelude to joining the World Trade Organisation.”
“ e bill on the preliminary agreement for the creation of a free trade zone between Iran
and the Eurasian Economic Union was studied at the commission in the presence of Energy Min- ister [Reza Ardakanian] and later approved by the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission,” said Ali Naja Khoshrudi, a spokesman for the commission said.
e Commissioning Council of the EEU has approved a roadmap for Iran’s entry into a spec- i ed free trade zone in September, enabling Iran to move ahead with building closer economic relations with parts of Central Asia, the Cauca- sus and Russia.
Despite the failure of previous e orts, Iran’s gradual attempt to cease all trading with the US dollar could become a success at some point in the future if, for instance, it continues to move in the direction of Russia and other EEU states. Tehran often reminds countries around the world that US power is highly dependent on the dollar being the world’s undisputed number one reserve currency, and that Washington’s in u- ence drawing on that nancial repower should be reduced.
On the same day as that the parliament rati- ed the EEU deal, chairman of the Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce, Hadi Tizhoush Taban, said that removing the US dollar from trade was the main objective in Iran bolstering its trade with the Caspian Sea littoral states.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 26 03•July•2019