Joining EEU not attractive for Iran
By Aynur Karimova
Iran will not join the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia as this organization is not attractive for Tehran, Behrooz Abdolvand believes.
“The Union is not attractive enough for a membership. The economy of Iran is very dynamic and needs more than a membership in a Union,” the research director at Berlin Centre for Caspian Region Studies told Trend.
Earlier, Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran’s Communications Minister and Co-chairman of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission said that Iran is interested in joining the EEU and it can happen in 2-3 years.
Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his last visit to Tehran that the EEU will start considering the possibilities of establishing a free trade zone with Iran.
Abdolvand noted that a membership in the EEU is not an advantage for the Iranian economy, but on the contrary would be devastating for Iran, as the sanctions against Russia will grow in the future.
Meanwhile, Abdolvand did not exclude the possibility of a generous cooperation between Iran and the EEU.
The EEU is an international organization for regional economic integration among Russia, Belarus Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The Union provides free goods movement, capital, services and labor, pursues coordinated, harmonized and single policy in the sectors determined by the EEU Treaty and international agreements of the Union.
With four members on board the Union is aimed to comprehensively upgrade, raise competitiveness and cooperation between the national economies, and promote stable developments in those countries.
Kamran Dadkhah, economist and expert on Iran at the US Northeastern University, also claims that the EEU has nothing but loss to offer to the Iranian economy.
He told Trend that an economic union or free trade zone will benefit its members if it is between reasonably equal countries with common economic and perhaps political interests, however Iran has no common economic or political interests with the EEU members.
The EEU unites five member states of the former Soviet Union with Russia dominating it economically and politically.
The expert believes that if Iran joins the Union, the only beneficiary would be Russia.
"The reasons for Iranian officials raising the possibility of joining the Union are purely political. It is a symbolic gesture toward Russia,” he added.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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