TEHRAN – Golestan province, in the northeast of Iran, exported commodities worth $53.6 million to the members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in the past Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20), a provincial official announced.

Darvish-Ali Hassanzadeh, the acting head of the province’s Industry, Mining and Trade Department, said that the export from Golestan to EAEU member states rose by 100 percent in the past year.

As announced by the spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), Iranian exports to the members of the Eurasian Economic Union exceeded $1.170 billion in the previous year, to register a 12-percent increase year on year.

Iran exported over 2.770 million tons of commodities to the five members of the mentioned union in the said year, 3.5 percent more than the figure for the preceding year, Ruhollah Latifi has stated.

Russian Federation with $583.658 million was the top destination for Iranian products among the EAEU members, followed by Armenia with $302.343 million, Kazakhstan with $188.866 million, Kyrgyzstan with $78.900 million, and Belarus with $16.813 million of imports, the official said.

Iran also imported over 10.356 million tons of goods valued at $4.472 billion from the block in the said year, to register a 90 percent rise in value and a 73 percent increase in terms of weight, compared to the preceding year.

Russian Federation with $4.053 billion, Kazakhstan with $379.271 million, Belarus with $28.605 million, Armenia with $9.071 million, and Kyrgyzstan with $1.663 million were the top five sources of Iranian imports.

Iran and Eurasian Economic Union reached a preferential trade agreement (PTA) in October 2018 based on which about 862 commodity items were subjected to preferential tariffs.

The interim agreement enabling the formation of a free trade area between Iran and the EAEU was signed on May 17, 2018, and officially came into force on October 27, 2019.

The two sides have also announced the decision for upgrading the mentioned PTA into a free trade agreement by the end of 2022.

Iran is a very important market in the region and the development of ties with this country is of high significance for the EAEU members (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan).

The preferential trade agreement between Iran and this union has laid the ground for the expansion of trade ties between the two sides.

The agreement with the bloc has increased Iran’s exports to the EAEU member states significantly, which is a turning point for the Islamic Republic's plans for boosting non-oil exports during the U.S. sanctions.

MA/MA