TEHRAN – Head of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) underlined the active participation in regional treaties like the one with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as an important step toward economic development and urged the government to place more importance on the issue.

Speaking in a conference on the development of the country’s free and special economic zones’ cooperation with the neighboring countries on Saturday, Gholam-Hossein Shafeie emphasized the role of economic blocks in the economic development and said: “Iran is one of the countries which has had the least preferential trade agreements even with its neighboring countries.”

“Over 481 bilateral and multilateral regional organizations were formed between the world economies in 2019,” he stressed.

According to the official, Iran is currently a member of two trade organizations, namely the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation known as Developing-8, and unfortunately, the goals of none of the memberships have been fulfilled. 

He called for a detailed analysis of the country’s previous unsuccessful experiences for increasing the success chance of the preferential trade agreement with EAEU.
“There is a 180-million-people market in Eurasia that should not be overlooked. The region's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) is estimated at $1.9 trillion,” the official stressed.

He pointed to the lack of necessary infrastructure as the most important problem that the private sector is facing while trying to benefit from this agreement, adding that “The long stoppage of trucks in the borders, lack of suitable rail transportation, the lack of trucks with cold storages for transporting agricultural products are the most important challenges we face.”

EF/MA