Page 32 - IRANRptOct22

Iran, EEU expect to sign FTA within three months official says during Putin visit
Iran applies for BRICS membership
On the sidelines of the SCO summit, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjaev and Iranian Minister of Petroleum Javad Owj held talks on energy cooperation.
The ministers struck an agreement on the involvement of Iranian specialists in Uzbekistan’s implementation of oil refinery modernisation projects.
Khodjaev and Owj also discussed how to formulate joint production of catalysts for the petrochemical industry and cooperate in the supply of drilling rigs.
Iran has stepped up its prioritisation of trade relations with both Russia and Central Asian states in recent months. In August, Iran announced a major increase in trade with Turkmenistan. In June, Iran and Kazakhstan inaugurated a new railway link extending to Turkey across Iranian territory.
A free trade agreement (FTA) between Iran and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is to be signed within three months, the Trade Promotion Organisation of Iran (TPOI) announced on July 20.
An advisor to the TPOI on international and trade agreement affairs, Hadi Seyyedi, announced the deal—an upgrade from Iran’s existing trading relationship with the EEU member countries, which is based on a temporary preferential trade agreement (PTA) signed in 2018—at an international trade workshop held by Iranian and Russian officials in Tehran while Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Iran for talks.
Under the FTA, 80% of customs tariffs applied to trade between Iran and the EEU member states—namely Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia—will fall to zero and special provisions will be made for specific sectors including automotive production.
“Signing and sealing this agreement is of paramount importance,” Seyyedi said. Trade between Iran and the EEU bloc reached a value of $5.64bn in the last Persian calendar year (ended on March 20), registering a 66% y/y rise as coronavirus restrictions were removed or eased.
Iran and Russia, meanwhile, have accelerated the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), originally envisaged as offering a trade route for Indian goods to reach as far as Helsinki via Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia, though other branches of the corridor might now assume more importance given the new political realities since Russia became the most sanctioned country in the world as the West responded to its invasion of Ukraine. The transit route has taken on new importance for Russian exports as it seeks to reorientate trade with an emphasis on business with Asia.
Iran has applied for joining the group of five major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, a spokesman said.
The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced at a press conference on June 27 that the Islamic Republic has submitted its application for membership in the BRICS.
A series of consultations have been held in this regard, Saeed Khatibzadeh added.
He said although the BRICS is not a treaty or an international agreement, it has been based on a very creative mechanism with broad aspects.
The spokesman noted that the BRICS members make up 30 percent of the world’s gross production and 40 percent of the world’s population.
He expressed hope that Iran’s membership in the BRICS would result in “added values” for both sides.
Addressing a virtual summit of the BRICS Business Forum, which was attended by the group’s top leaders on Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
32 IRAN Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com