Madanizadeh met with Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, at the commission’s headquarters, where the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to expanding economic and trade cooperation.

The Iranian minister also held separate talks with Andrey Slepnev, the EAEU’s Minister for Trade, and other senior officials to review the progress of economic and trade cooperation following the implementation of the free trade agreement between Iran and the bloc.

Slepnev pointed to the planned second meeting of the joint Iran-EAEU working group, which is expected to be hosted by Tehran in the coming months, and expressed hope that the upward trend in bilateral trade would continue.

The talks come as Iran seeks to capitalize on its free trade agreement with the EAEU to expand exports, facilitate cross-border commerce and strengthen its access to the markets of the bloc’s member states.

Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali and Mehdi Heydari, Deputy Economy Minister and head of the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, accompanied Madanizadeh during the meetings.