TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said that along with the implementation of the preferential trade agreement with the members of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Iran is considering ways for removing the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) in trade with the union, TPO news portal reported.

“Apart from the [preferential trade] agreement and the commodity items that we agree on, what should be considered as a side benefit of this agreement for both sides is the removal of non-tariff barriers to trade between the parties,” Hamid Zadboum said in a conference on promotion of trade with EAEU in Tehran.

Speaking in the conference, Zadboum underlined some of the problems in the way of trade between Iran and EAEU, including banking and money transfer problems, the lack of Iranian banking branches in some member countries, transportation problems and high transit costs, delays in issuing visas in some member countries, as well as customs problems, and expressed hope that they will be removed following the implementation of the preferential trade agreement.

Zadboum further mentioned a working group established for monitoring the implementation of the preferential trade agreement between Iran and EAEU, and said: "We held the first meeting of the joint working group in the form of a video conference with the Eurasian Economic Union last month.”

Emphasizing the positive outcomes of the mentioned meeting, the official said that all the agreements reached in the working group meeting were signed by both parties in the form of a protocol and were turned into a document that was exchanged between the two sides.

“In this document, we agreed to hold preliminary talks three weeks before the start of the main negotiations, and to follow up on the side issues of the agreement, including standards, plant quarantine, transport and transit, and banking, each of which could have a working group,” he explained.

According to the official, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) pursues the joint banking working group, Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) will be in charge of the joint customs working group, while Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) follows up on the joint working group on rules of origin and the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development is in charge of the joint transportation and transit working group.

EF/MA