TEHRAN – The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Eurasian and Economic Union (EAEU) are close to concluding a long-awaited free trade agreement (FTA) and the FTA could go operational this year, a Russian official said.Signing the free trade agreement between Iran, Russia, and several countries, which covers a large area of Eurasia from the borders of Eastern Europe to China, will be possible by the end of this year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Overchuk told TASS.“We are moving forward and very much hope that such an agreement will be signed by the end of the year,” Overchuk stressed.Earlier in May, the Russian official had said that EAEU may strike a deal on a free trade zone with Iran earlier than with other countries.Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Trade Minister Andrey Slepnev had also said last month that the agreement on a free trade zone between the EAEU and Iran could be signed as early as this year.The Eurasian Economic Union was established in 2015 at the initiative taken by Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belarus.Afterward, the Republic of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan joined the Union.Iran and EAEU reached a preferential trade agreement in 2018 based on which about 862 commodity items are currently subject to preferential tariffs.The agreement came into effect on October 27, 2019.The value of trade between Iran and the EAEU members reached $5.643 billion during the previous Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20, 2022), registering a 66-percent rise compared to the figure for the preceding year.According to the former Spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Ruhollah Latifi, the weight of Iran-EAEU trade in the mentioned year stood at over 13.127 million tons which was also 51 percent more than the preceding year.Iran exported 2.77 million tons of commodities worth over $1.170 billion to the mentioned union to register a 3.5 percent increase in terms of weight and 12 percent growth in terms of value.EF/MA