Leaders of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) signed a free trade agreement with Indonesia on December 21 following a year-end summit in St Petersburg, coupling an outward-facing trade accord with an internal roadmap that extends the bloc’s integration agenda to 2045, according to the Kremlin.

The St Petersburg meeting shows the EEU’s effort to consolidate its internal market while expanding selectively abroad, as member states seek to stabilise trade, payments and investment flows under prolonged geopolitical pressure and limited access to Western markets.

The agreement was among around 20 documents approved at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, attended by the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, alongside Armenia’s prime minister.

Indonesia’s trade minister, Budi Santoso, joined the talks, while several observer states took part in an expanded session.

The Indonesia deal broadens the EEU’s external trade footprint beyond its five-member core as the bloc intensifies efforts to reduce tariffs, improve logistics and deepen financial connectivity in response to geopolitical and sanctions-related constraints.

While officials published no trade projections, they framed the pact as a step towards diversifying export markets and anchoring supply chains with Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

In parallel, leaders endorsed an action plan known as the “Eurasian Economic Path”, a strategic roadmap to implement the union’s development declaration through 2030 with a longer horizon extending to 2045.

Often described by officials as an “EEU 2.0” agenda, the plan prioritises deeper capital-market integration, transport corridors and regulatory harmonisation.

President Vladimir Putin urged member states to make fuller use of the Eurasian Reinsurance Company, a bloc-backed institution designed to support cross-border trade and investment.

Its capacity should be used “more fully”, he said, as the EEU works towards a common financial market offering broader access to credit, insurance and securities.

On payments infrastructure, Putin said the union had built a “stable and independent” system, with national currencies now accounting for 93% of mutual settlements.

He pointed to stronger headline performance this year, including agricultural output growth of more than 20% across the bloc, retail sales up about 3% and construction rising 4.7%. Russia’s non-energy exports to EEU partners climbed nearly 20% to around $32bn in the first ten months, out of total trade of about $73bn, he said.

Iran, an observer rather than a full member, used the summit to underline its interest in the bloc’s economic track.

President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a message read by Iran’s ambassador to Russia, described cooperation with the EEU as a long-term strategy to strengthen national sovereignty and regional economic resilience.

He called the free trade agreement between Iran and the bloc, implemented in May, a “significant” step that had already expanded trade and could unlock higher volumes in the coming years.

Pezeshkian stressed transport, energy security, financial infrastructure and technology as priority areas, without providing figures.

Iranian officials also confirmed plans to host an EEU trade ministers’ meeting alongside a Eurasia trade exhibition in Tehran in February 2026, positioning the country as a transit and commercial link rather than a driver of the bloc’s agenda.

The summit also approved the launch of talks with Uzbekistan on information exchange in international transport, reinforcing efforts to streamline transit across Central Asia.

Founded under a 2014 treaty that entered into force in 2015, the EEU groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, with Cuba, Iran, Moldova and Uzbekistan holding observer status.