Iran-EAEU free trade beneficial for Armenia 'in the short run'

The temporary agreement, proposing the creation of a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), may offer advantages to Armenia only in the short run, according to an opposition MP.

In a speech at the National Assembly's Wednesday session debating the bill, Mikayel Melkumyan of the Prosperous Armenia party highlighted particulalry Armenia's threefold lower exports compared to the Islamic Republic. ''Our total trade circulation is $363 million, of which only $94 million accounts for our exports. So this agreement can offer only temporary  benefits,'' he noted.

According to Melkumyan, the agreement was document was proposed as a temporary deal to allow time for Iran to reduce its minimum customs duties from four to zero per cent (a rate which doesn't exist in the country's current legislation).

Melkumyan stressed especially Armenia's role as an important bridge potentially bringing the Iranian market closer to the common trade-economic bloc. Meantime the lawmaker agreed that the process will be long-lasting, with Iran permanently protecting its market with customs duties and non-custom regulations (a privelege which he said the EAEU member state have practically always enjoyed).  

Melkumyan stressed the importance of developing bilateral relations also in the political domain, in particular by benefiting partially from the free trade regime between Turkey and Iran and embarking on the construction of a 60km long railroad from Iran to the Armenian border (as a counterbalance to a possible railroad communication with the EAEU through Azerbaijan and Georgia).

Melkumyan said he also believes that the agreement will ensure Iranian companies' representation in Armenia, agreeing that no major Iranian ventures have so far had their branches in the country. He noted that Armenia, apart from being an EAEU mmeber state, also has the GSP+ regime, which may enable Iran to export its goods also to the European market.

''There are certainly risks, but those risks are incomparably higher against the sizable profits we are striving for, hence we have to ratify [the agreement],'' he added.