Assessing the Concessions Balance of Interim Agreement Leading to Formation of a Free Trade Area between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union

The interim agreement leading to formation of a free trade area between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union become binding since 27th of October, 2019 is important for Iran in order to gain a political-economic opportunities vis-à-vis the West and regional cooperation especially Russia, in framework of the strategy of Iran. Given Iran's negative trade balance with the region in recent years, the main purpose of this study is to assess this agreement and answer this question: whether this agreement is beneficial for Iran? For this, the concessions of bilateral trade tariffs have been matched with the amount of trade between the two partners (Iran and the Union) in 2017. According to the results, despite the fact that most of Russia's imported goods from Iran are subject to tariff concessions, the trade balance of Iran's concessions against Russia has been negative. However, given the type of concessions between the two partners, there is a good capacity to increase Iran's exports to Russia. In the case of Armenia, the trade balance of Iran's concessions is generally positive and calculated in favor of Iran. In the case of both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the trade balance in the items is generally negative. Also, the trade balance of Iran's concessions against the Eurasia is generally negative, which could be due to Russia's dominance in the union, as well as Russia's position on Iran's trade with the region.