It seems that the Russian Federation expects that an agreement for establishing a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union will be signed before the end of the year. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said recently: "Now, indeed, the EEU has come very close to concluding such an agreement with Iran. This issue was touched upon, including at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, and received the support of the heads of government. Therefore, we are making progress. The agreement can be signed.”
According to the Russian official, the EEU is developing FTA agreements with several more states, with which negotiations are also underway. "[We are in talks with] Egypt, India, Indonesia, and the UAE. All these countries are friendly to us; they are growing markets, so respectively the economic center of the new multipolar world is moving in their direction.”
Overchuk drew attention to the fact that even in a bilateral format, negotiations on free trade zones are ‘very difficult, and they take years’: "Negotiators need to take into account a lot of different interests. In our case, the interests of all five EEU member states, their businesses, and consumers are involved here. All this should be taken into account by our negotiators. This is a complex process.”
Source: financialtribune.com