TEHRAN – The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) called for the expansion of business and economic ties with Iran, said the EEC Trade Minister Veronika Nikishina.

Nikishina met with the Iranian ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei in Moscow on Thursday, the IRNA news agency reported.

Nikishina said the process of concluding a free trade area (FTA) agreement with Iran must be accelerated.

Sanaei, for his part, said expanding cooperation with EEC member states is among Iran’s priorities.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed to start negotiations on signing a FTA agreement in parallel with doing joint research on the matter.

In August 2015, EEC announced that it has decided to set up a joint research group to study the prospects of reaching a FTA agreement with Iran.

According to Sanaei, being a member is a privilege since it would reduce the trade tariffs between the members. 

A free trade area is the region encompassing a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement. Such agreements involve cooperation between at least two countries to reduce trade barriers — import quotas and tariffs — and to increase trade of goods and services with each other. 

The EEC is an economic union of former Soviet states led by Russia to guarantee free transit of goods, services, capital and workers among members.  

The treaty establishing the EEC was formally signed by three states which were part of the former Soviet Union: Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Agreements to enlarge the EEC to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan were signed in 2014.   

SJ/MA/