ArmInfo. To expand the international agenda of the Eurasian Economic Union, special attention should be paid to countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where our goods and services are still not well recognized. On October 1, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced this at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Yerevan.
"We suggest that the Eurasian Development Bank join in this area. Our national development banks and other financial institutions should also look for tools for closer interaction both within the union and on the external side," Lukashenko said.
At the same time, he touched on the barriers within the organization and expressed his conviction that a political solution is needed to eliminate barriers in the EAEU. "Today we have empowered the commission with the issues of labeling goods and the traceability of their movement. The EEC must ensure that these progressive offers do not turn into new obstacles to trade. There are plenty of barriers in the union. It is especially alarming when they are introduced in such sensitive areas as, for example, state purchases. The time has come for the heads of state to consider a hot topic and make a political decision, "the Belarusian leader emphasized, suggesting increase of powers of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Court of the EAEC .
Touching upon the EAEU's interaction with third countries, Lukashenko praised the development of cooperation, including the development of an interim agreement on the creation of a free trade zone with Iran, which will enter into force in October, and a package of agreements with Singapore. "Your countries are very important partners for us, and the potential for building economic ties is huge. Having consolidated the preference regime, it is important to push business and governments to more systematic interaction," Alexander Lukashenko addressed the Iranian President and Singapore Prime Minister at the meeting.
The President also noted with satisfaction the readiness to conclude a free trade agreement with Serbia and recalled that the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation with China would enter into force in October. In June, the EAEU and the PRC agreed to exchange preliminary information on goods and means of international transportation transported through their customs offices in order to expedite the passage of goods across their borders.
"The commission should work out a similar agreement with the European Union to make the land route from China to Europe through our countries the most attractive," the Belarusian head of state said.
Alexander Lukashenko also noted that the EAEU's interaction with the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have seriously intensified. According to the head of state, integration associations have common interests in the fields of transport, industrial cooperation, digitalization.