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Following long-lasting discussions held in the Kazakh capital city of Astana, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Iran signed on Thursday a provisional agreement to establish a free trade zone.

An expert on Iran, Armen Israyelyan commented on the agreement in a Facebook post, noting that back in 2015 when Armenia joined the EAEU, some experts that ‘did not have deep insight in Iran's domestic and foreign policy’ forecast a deterioration in the Armenian-Iranian relations, citing the possible inconsistencies of the Iran nuclear deal with the EAEU.

“Today, however, Iran is signing a free trade zone agreement with the EAEU, and it is no way linked with the ongoing processes around the Iran nuclear program,” he said.

According to Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan, after the agreement comes into effect, its signatories will be spared payment of customs duties, TASS said. 

"The current agreement includes an initial list of goods with lowered or cancelled customs fees upon its enforcement. The agreement covers half of mutual trade," he said, adding that in 2017 trade between the EAEU and Iran reached 2.7 billion US dollars.

The list for the EAEU includes meat and fat-and-oil products, certain types of confectioneries and chocolate, cosmetics, electronic and mechanical equipment. Iran will enjoy tariff preferences on vegetables, fruits, dried fruits and building materials.