Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 26
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
The Eurasian Economic Union has nothing but loss to offer to the Iranian economy, economist and expert on Iran at the US Northeastern University Kamran Dadkhah told Trend.
Previously, the co-chairman of the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental commission, Iran's Minister of Communications Mahmoud Vaezi said that Iran is interested in joining the Eurasian Economic Union and it can happen in 2-3 years.
Moreover Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Tehran this week said that the Eurasian Economic Union will start considering the possibilities of creating a free trade zone with Iran.
Kamran Dadkhah believes 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 Eurasian Economic Union members.
Moreover he noted that the union united five member states of the former Soviet Union with Russia dominating it economically and politically.
"Joining the Eurasian Economic Union is not in the interest of Iran," he said.
The expert believes that if Iran joins the Union, the only beneficiary would be Russia.
Dadkhah said that the reasons for Iranian officials raising the possibility of joining the Union are purely political.
"It is a symbolic gesture toward Russia," he said.
He noted that after the nuclear agreement with the P5+1, there has been talk of foreign investment in Iranian economy, particularly by Western companies and even the possibility of establishing relations with the United States.
"Yet such moves encroach upon the business activities of the current leadership and its civilian and military allies. Hence, they raise the possibility of moving eastward and having close economic ties with Russia and its allies as opposed to the Western European countries and the United States," Dadkhah said.
He also noted that Iran is involved in conflicts in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen and Putin's policies and actions in Syria, at least in the short run, are in line with Iran leaders' interests.
"Hence, the talk about joining the Eurasian Economic Union is a symbolic "thank you" to Russia," he said.
The Eurasian Economic Union is an international integration union created on the basis of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space. It united Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
Edited by SI
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