Tasnim – Iran’s ambassador to Kazakhstan highlighted Tehran’s efforts to maximize its benefits of a preferential trade agreement it has recently signed with members of the Eurasian Economic Union, stressing the need for providing robust legal and banking infrastructures to that end.


In an interview with Tasnim, Mojtaba Damirchiloo emphasized the need for providing the necessary “legal, banking, financial and technical infrastructures” to boost relations between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union and get the most out of the temporary preferential trade agreement that was signed back in May.

To that end, the envoy added, a series of measures have been put on the agenda, including a mechanism to facilitate monetary transactions with the national currencies of the trade partners, creating other banking mechanisms, and training and guiding Iranian exporters.

If Iranian exporters develop the necessary abilities to tap into the preferential trade deal, they could have access to the markets of Eurasian Economic Union members with more ease, Damirchiloo went on to say.

Commenting on the political and economic relations between Iran and Kazakhstan, the ambassador pointed to the growing bilateral trade ties in recent years, saying the two sides have defined the necessary legal principles by signing a series of agreements.

Hailing the close coordination between Iran and Kazakhstan in regional and international organizations over the past 25 years, the ambassador said Tehran and Astana have supported the stances of each other over many regional and international issues.

Last month, in a ceremony in the Kazakh capital of Astana, Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) signed the temporary preferential trade deal and agreed to reach a comprehensive and lasting deal within the next three years.

A draft agreement between Iran and the EEU had been signed in Armenia in July 2017.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an economic union of states located primarily in northern Eurasia. A treaty aiming for the establishment of the EEU was signed in May 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force in January 2015.

Treaties aiming for Armenia's and Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union were signed in late 2014.