EEC, Iranian authorities discuss reducing costs in supply of goods along North-South ITC

MOSCOW. Oct 15 (Interfax) - The countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Iran are working on reducing carriers' costs, simplifying border crossing and digitalizing transportation along the North-South international transport corridor.

This issue was discussed at a meeting of the joint committee on implementing the free trade agreement between the EAEU and Iran held in Tehran, the trade division of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) said.

The meeting was held under the co-chairmanship of EEC Trade Minister Andrei Slepnev and Iranian Industry, Mines and Trade Minister Seyed Mohammad Atabak.

In addition to logistics, the parties discussed access to markets for automotive, medical and pharmaceutical products, as well as continuing work on requirements for halal products.

"An agreement was reached on developing a plan of measures to eliminate restrictions on access for finished consumer goods. The parties also agreed to establish an exchange of preferential trade statistics to assess the results of the agreement," the EEC trade division said.

It is expected that the EAEU and Iran will accelerate work on an electronic system for verifying the origin of goods and on coordinating a protocol on the electronic exchange of customs information.

According to EAEU information, trade turnover with Iran grew 5% year-on-year in January-July 2026, while the EAEU's exports increased 6% and imports from Iran rose 3%.

The full-format free trade agreement between the EAEU countries and Iran entered into force on May 15, 2025, replacing the interim agreement in effect since 2019. The document covers approximately 90% of goods in mutual trade, and the average duty rate has been reduced from 20% to 4.5%. The savings for exporters of the EAEU countries from the agreement were estimated at $380 million per year, including $300 million per year for Russian ones.