According to Bahman Hosseinzade, the managing director of Iran International Exhibition Company, the 1st dedicated Eurasian Exhibition will be held in January 2021 in Tehran, with participation of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Speaking to Shatanews, Hosseinzade stated that, “we have planned this exhibition in order to showcase Iranian trade and export potentials, and also to increase the volume of trade between Iran and Eurasian Economic Union member states.”
“Our industrial capabilities is not introduced well to the other countries, and holding such exhibitions can promote Iranian trade capabilities, and increase mutual collaborations,” he added.
Although Mr. Hosseinzade did not provide many details about the event, I believe it is the most important economy news of the week, because this exhibition could be a starting point to a vast economic change.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an international organization for regional economic integration. This union is located in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Asia. The Member-States of the Eurasian Economic Union are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation. The EAEU provides for free movement of goods, services, capital and labor, pursues coordinated, harmonized and single policy in the sectors determined by the Treaty and international agreements within the Union.
This treaty which was signed in 2014, made an integrated market of five countries in an area of more than 20 million kilometers, and over 190 million population.
Iran have been accepted as a temporary member of this Union around a year ago. Needless to say that being accepted in the Eurasian Economic Union means that members are willing to establish and expand their economic ties with Iran. And this is a golden opportunity for Iranian economy in this hard time of sanctions.
The EAEU has a 753.8 Billion US Dollar trade in 2018, which means 3% of the global export, and 1.7 of the global import.
I have found a statement from Gholamhossein Shafei, head of the Chamber of the Commerce, that the infrastructure is not ready for us to take the maximum advantage from the mutual agreement between Iran and EAEU.
Frankly speaking, we suffer much more from ourselves than the sanctions. It is not the only economic golden chance for us in recent years that we failed take. The political dispute between Russia and Turkey a couple of years ago, which led to temporary trade halt between two countries was another golden gate which was opened in front of us. We could easily replace Turkey on supplying Russia’s food import needs, but we failed, and they made friendship again!
Now the gate is open again for us, we can take it or leave it!
You can find below the links of Mr. Hosseinzade interview on Shatanews:
The official website of the EAEU:
http://www.eaeunion.org/?lang=en#about
And their Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Customs_Union
And finally the Eurasian Comission website:
http://www.eurasiancommission.org/en/Pages/default.aspx
Tehran Times’s report on Iran-EAEU agreement:
https://rb.gy/rqcq7l
