The CIS Economic Council has approved a project on a free trade zone agreement today. The document will be considered at the next session of CIS prime ministers in Minsk in May, RIA Novosti reports.
The document is aimed at liberalizing commerce between CIS member-states, replacing current deals between them. The deal will reduce the number of goods on which need duty needs to be paid. Duties will gradually be cancelled.
The agreement on a free trade zone was developed at the Russian Ministry of Economic Development in 2008. A special working group concluded talks on the document’s text in February. The project document was approved by the commission for economic issues of the CIS Economic Council in March. Deputy Secretary General of the EurAsEC Sergey Glazyev, secretary of the Customs Union, said earlier that the free trade zone of the CIS will be launched in late 2011.
