These negotiations took place in two parts, the first part of which was implemented with the approval of parliament on November 8, 2018. We have enjoyed preferential trade with Eurasia for about 4 years and this has led to the development bilateral trade. Before that, trade between Iran and Eurasia amounted to $2.5 billion and today it has reached $5 billion. Studies estimate the trade capacity of Iran and Eurasia at around $20 billion. He added: One year after the start of preferential trade, that is, in November 1999, our negotiations to convert preferential trade into free trade began. Today we can say that the negotiations are over and five countries, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, have agreed to establish free trade with Iran. We hope that this agreement will be signed before the end of the year and will be implemented after the approval of the parliaments of five Eurasian countries and Iran.

Sidi said: In the previous agreement, only 10% of goods were subject to preferential trade, and this figure will reach around 90% in the new agreement. Given the 82% growth in our trade in 2018 and after the signing of the initial agreement, we can predict that there is capacity for increased trade and political determination to achieve this. The International Affairs Advisor of the Trade Development Organization added: This is our country's first free trade agreement and it can have a great impact on the country's trade. This agreement has helped pave the way for negotiations with other countries and we hope that it will soon come to fruition.