Eurasian Agro-Express project may expand to include Iran, UAE, Mongolia - EEC

MINSK. June 27 (Interfax) - The geography of the Eurasian Agro-Express project is significantly expanding, Andrei Slepnev, member of the board (minister) for trade at the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), told journalists on the sidelines of the fourth Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk on Friday.

"The project initially focused on Southeast Asia and the Chinese market, but today its map is expanding substantially. Practical work has begun on the North-South corridor - a promising direction for agricultural products," Slepnev was quoted as saying by the state news agency BelTA.

"This refers to Iran as well as other countries in the region," he said. "For example, it would be interesting to include the United Arab Emirates in the Eurasian Agro-Express project. Work is also underway with Mongolia - a close partner of the EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union] and simultaneously a transit country towards China," Slepnev said.

As reported in February this year, the EEC held negotiations with Iranian partners on cooperation as part of the Eurasian Agro-Express project, the EEC's press service said. "During the meeting, we wanted to propose discussing with our Iranian partners the formation of green corridor principles for transit shipments under the project, increasing the cargo base along the Iran-EAEU route, and raising awareness among Iran's business community about the project and its opportunities," the commission's press service quoted Vladimir Serpikov, the director of the EEC Trade Policy Department, as saying.

The parties agreed to consider these issues at meetings of the transport and transit cooperation subcommittee, which will be established as part of implementing the full-fledged free trade agreement between the EAEU and Iran.

The initiative to implement the joint EAEU states' Eurasian Agro-Express project for accelerated rail and multimodal transport was approved by the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council on February 25, 2022, to develop regular mutual supplies of agricultural products and food, as well as export shipments to Asian and European destinations. On February 3, 2023, the Intergovernmental Council expanded the project to include North-South corridor routes.

Over three years of implementation, the project has transported over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo, more than half of which was refrigerated.