Economic cooperation between the countries has been growing at a record pace, according to Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak
Iran is expected to enter the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in the near future, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak revealed on Tuesday.
“We agreed to remove all barriers that currently exist in the way of developing trade between our countries. And we are talking about lowering barriers at the borders of third countries,” Novak said during a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Iran.
The EEU, which is based on the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, was established in 2015. It was later joined by Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. In 2016, Vietnam officially became the first non-regional country to become a member of the bloc. The union is designed to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital, and workers between member nations.
More than 50 countries and international organizations, including China, Indonesia, Jordan, Thailand, and some South American countries, have expressed an interest in a free-trade deal with the EEU.
According to Novak, the volume of trade between Russia and Iran has been growing at a “record pace.” It was up by over 36% in January-August in annual terms, hitting $3.3 billion. The Deputy PM expressed confidence the figure could soon reach $4 billion......more below
https://www.rt.com/business/565730-iran-russia-free-trade-zone/
Nvidia would be barred from shipping advanced artificial intelligence chips to China under bipartisan legislation unveiled Thursday, Bloomberg reported. A Chinese expert said the move is shortsighted, noting that tightening restrictions despite domestic industry opposition will only accelerate China’s tech innovation and further diminish Nvidia’s chances of reentering the Chinese market.
Known as the Secure and Feasible Exports Act, the bill would order the US Commerce Department to halt export licenses for sales of chips to adversaries, including China and Russia for at least 30 months. Any processors more powerful than those already approved for export to those nations would be subject to the measure, the Bloomberg report said.
The legislation comes as the White House weighs whether to allow Nvidia to export the....more below
A high-ranking ICC official, Nicolas Herrera, secretly financed the sanctioned UPC armed group in the Central African Republic, according to court materials obtained by Sputnik.
Nicolas Herrera, a high-ranking official in the Registry Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC), secretly recruited and financed the Union for Peace (UPC) in the Central African Republic (CAR) armed group, led by local warlord Ali Darassa, to capture ICC target Joseph Kony, by using US-based NGO employee Joseph Martin Figueira as a covert intermediary, thereby violating the ICC’s financial accountability standards by funding an armed group, according to a Sputnik correspondent's analysis of public court records.
The conviction of Joseph Martin Figueira, a Belgian-Portuguese anthropologist found guilty of espionage and collaborating with militants in the Central African Republic (CAR) in November, has uncovered a complex financial trail linking ICC staff to the country’s armed militants, evidence ...
Hundreds of retired Israeli police officers have urged the regime’s president, Isaac Herzog, to reject Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a pardon in corruption cases.
On November 30, Netanyahu, who faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust in three separate cases, submitted a formal pardon request to the office of Herzog, claiming the long-running corruption cases were tearing the regime apart.
In a letter to Herzog, about 400 former officers, including ex-commissioners and deputy commissioners, said Netanyahu’s request contains “not even a hint of admission of guilt,” making it unacceptable.
They warned that “such a step without [Netanyahu’s] confession and remorse is liable to ignite severe violence in Israeli society.”.....more below