On November 16, 2016 the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council held a session in Gorki (Moscow region, Russia), attended by the heads of Government of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU): the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Russian Federation, where the EAEU Common Customs Code was approved.
A retreat into protectionism and inward looking policies is not a solution to the economic problems the region faces, business leaders meeting in Lima for the APEC Business Advisory Council said on November 15, 2016.
“In the face of growing public disquiet about the impact of freer trade and investment, business leaders are concerned that many governments are looking to impose new tariff and non tariff barriers,” said Juan Raffo, ABAC Chair for 2016: “Protectionist actions make it harder for business to play its part in creating employment and raising living standards across the region”, said Raffo.
At the tenth meeting of the Advisory Committee on tax policy and administration under the Eurasian Economic Commission a number of decisions aimed at eliminating tax barriers in mutual trade of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union were adopted.
“The removal of barriers, including tax barriers, to the free movement of goods, services, capital, investments, labor in mutual trade is the main objective of the EEC. We have to abide by the principles of non-discrimination in relation to taxation norms and its conditions not only with respect to tariffs, but also to benefits, exemptions and other tax conditions," said the EEC Board member - Minister in charge of Economics and Financial Policy Timur Suleimenov.
In Montreal (Canada) the EEC Board Member (Minister) Tatiana Valovaya drew attention of Canadian business circles to closer contacts with the EAEU entrepreneurs.
During the seminar, organized by the Canadian Business Association for Russia and Eurasia, she spoke about the aims and objectives of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Diplomats from the EAEU countries as well as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Canada also delivered their speeches at the seminar: from Armenia - Armen Eganyan, from Kazakhstan - Konstantin Zhigalov, from Russia - Alexander Darchiev, as well as acting charge d'affaires of Belarus in Canada Dmitry Basik.
On November 9, 2016 in Ottawa (Canada), the EEC Board member - Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomic Policy Tatiana Valovaya within the framework of the working visit to Canada met with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexandra Bugailiskis.
The meeting was the first official contact of the Commission and the Government of Canada.
The EEC Board considered implementation by the EAEU countries of their obligations with regard to sensitive products when introducing measures of industrial policy.
The term “sensitive” refers to goods, for which the competition on the domestic market of the Union is the strongest and supportive measures taken by governments significantly affect the market for such goods. To eliminate the relevant problems and ensure rational spending of budgetary funds, the countries preliminarily agreed to inform each other and the Commission of the steps taken.
On November 10, 2016 in Grodno (Belarus), under the chairmanship of the EEC Board Member - Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulationof the Eurasian Economic Commission Nurlan Aldabergenov, the International Conference “Advantages and peculiarities of business operations in the EAEU in 2016” was held. In his report, the EEC Minister summarized the implementation of the Model law On Competition in the domestic legislation of the EAEU states, reported on the results of consideration of cases on cross-border trade markets and ongoing work on parallel imports.
To deepen awareness and appreciation of the various initiatives among stakeholders working on agricultural cooperation, the ASEAN Foundation, in partnership with the European Union (EU), organised a roundtable workshop in Jakarta on November 7, 2016. The workshop also explored, among others, potential tripartite cooperation between ASEAN, EU, and the Farmers Organisations (FOs) to concretise actions points related to institutionalised mechanism for policy and social dialogue.
The roundtable discussion also included a dialogue with the EU Agriculture Commissioner, and a deliberation among ASEAN, EU, FOs, the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and other relevant key stakeholders to strengthen the role of youth and agricultural cooperatives in the ASEAN regional integration process, and to promote sustainable agriculture development for poverty alleviation.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site
China will support in every possible way activity towards compatibility with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), China’s Ambassador to Russia Li Hui told a news conference at TASS.
The ambassador said China was ready to consider “cooperation on mutual preferential treatment in the financial sector, maintain active bilateral and regional cooperation with members of the EAEU,” the ambassador said.
“The Chinese side will boost its involvement and will offer all-round support to work towards compatibility with the EAEU to see this cooperation benefitting all parties,” he said.
“We are ready to boost the amounts and develop the sphere of settlements in national currencies and respective financial products,” he noted.
Li Hui said China “is ready to create more industrial clusters and zones of trade and economic cooperation together with EAEU”.
Earlier, Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will meet in St. Petersburg on November 7-8. Work on an agreement to build larger Eurasian economic partnership that can involve EAEC countries, as well as India, China, Pakistan and other countries willing to join will be top on the agenda.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) brings together Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan.
Press-release at the BRICS informational web-site
On November 2, 2016 in Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) within the framework of the international investment forum "ERTYS INVEST-2016," the Director of the Entrepreneurship Development Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission Baurzhan Bekeshev reported on additional guarantees for investors under the provisions of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.
Apart from Baurzhan Bekeshev, section "Public and private partnership as a new way to attract investments in the economy” was also attended by representatives of Gomel region of the Republic of Belarus, Ministry of national economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Foundation for entrepreneurship development “DAMU”, business and expert communities.