On December 25, 2023, on the margins of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg, a free trade agreement was signed between the Eurasian Economic Union and its member states, on the one hand, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the other.
The agreement provides a duty-free trade regime for a wide part of the commodity nomenclature - more than 90%.
Provision of duty-free trade regime will create favorable conditions for the entry of both agricultural and industrial Kazakhstani goods to the Iranian market. Special attention is paid to the possibilities of guaranteed duty-free supplies of Kazakh grain to Iran within the limits of tariff quotas.
In addition to establishing a preferential trade regime, the agreement regulates such trade aspects as the application of safeguard measures, cooperation on technical barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs cooperation, rules of origin, and dispute settlement.
Moreover, the agreement provides for agreements on ensuring transparency in public procurement, as well as agreements on the development of sectoral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, among which special attention is paid to the transport and logistics sector.
Formation of a full-scale preferential trade regime, regulation of a wide range of issues within the framework of the agreement will allow to realize the undiscovered potential of mutual trade and bring trade and economic relations between Kazakhstan and Iran to a qualitatively new level.
It should be noted that Iran is a large and promising market with a population of more than 85 million people, and also has a significant transit potential with a developed infrastructure of the Persian Gulf. The agreement will be a serious step in the development of the North-South transport corridor, namely, it will create prerequisites for the implementation of major joint projects in various sectors of the economy, increase mutual foreign direct investment, and build up active economic cooperation between the parties to the agreement.
According to the results of 2022 trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran amounted to 521.4 million USA dollars. The trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Iran amounted to $521.4 million, which is 18.3% higher than in 2021. At the same time, the share of exports from Kazakhstan to Iran amounted to 309.7 million dollars. The exports from Kazakhstan to Iran amounted to $309.7 million, an increase of 12.5% compared to last year. Imports from Iran to Kazakhstan amounted to 211.7 million USA dollars. Mutual trade with Iran has great potential for growth and the Agreement is designed to realize it.
