Page 21 - IRANRptAug19

5.2 FTA, multilateral agreements
Iranian president orders ministers to launch free trade zone with EEU
Iran and Iraq pledge to strengthen bilateral ties following Iraqi PM’s visit
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has tasked the country’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade to start implementing the free trade zone agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the presidential press service reported July 8.
Iran was hurriedly pushing ahead with plans to enter into an agreement with the Russian-led economic bloc which encompasses several former Soviet Union economies as a means of protecting its supply chains. EEU countries include Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan currently.
The EEU and Iran signed the temporary agreement on a free trade zone that is aimed at boosting trade between the countries through eased customs regulations on May 17, 2018.
Iran’s top legal vetting committee, the Guardian Council, confirmed the bill on the temporary agreement for launching a free trade agreement between Iran and the EEU on June 27, passing one of the few final hurdles before making it to the president’s office.
The 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 I ranian parliamentary commission where legal experts and clerics view such drafted legislation. Unlike other legislation, such as anti-money laundering 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.” “The 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 Minister [Reza Ardakanian] and later approved by the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission,” said Ali Najafi Khoshrudi, a spokesman for the commission.
As part of the EEU-Iran deal, Armenia and Iran also agreed to boost bilateral gas for electricity and goods swaps.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan a greed at their meeting in Tehran on July 3 to expand cooperation in several areas of mutual interest between the two countries, News.am reported. The Commissioning Council of the EEU approved a roadmap for Iran’s entry into a specified free trade zone in September, enabling Iran to move ahead with building closer economic relations with parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia.
Iran and Iraq have pledged to take further steps to develop bilateral ties to promote peace, stability and security in the Middle East, the press service of the Iran Chamber of Commerce said on July 23.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi arrived in Tehran on July 22 at the head of a delegation including his ministers of finance, defence, oil, and transport, as well as his national security advisor, and other officials and advisors. Iraq is in the unusual position of having close relations with both its neighbour and the US, at a time when Donald Trump’s attempt to throttle the Iranian economy with sanctions to force changes in Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and Middle East policy is causing growing tensions in the Gulf region. Iraqi officials, knowing their country’s economy is substantially dependent on links with both Iran and the US, have in recent months visited Washington to try to defuse some of those tensions.
21 IRAN Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com