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Russia and Palestine signed roadmap on trade and economic cooperation until 2021

It envisages creating working groups to remove trade obstacles, as well as providing Russian companies with support in establishing local production sites in Palestine's free industrial zones

RAMALLAH /State of Palestine/, November 7. /TASS/. Russia and Palestine signed on the roadmap for the development of trade and economic cooperation until 2021, a TASS correspondent reported.

The document was signed following the results of the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Palestinian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation held in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday.

The document which became part of signed in the final declaration of the commission was signed by Russia’s Labor and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin and Palestinian Minister of Economy of Trade Abeer Odeh.

In particular, the roadmap provides for setting up working groups to remove obstacles for bilateral trade, as well as providing Russian companies with support in establishing local sites for production in Palestinian free industrial zones, a spokesman with Russia’s Labor Ministry told the correspondent.

The document is also aimed to ensure a regular exchange of information between Russia and Palestine on opportunities for cooperation in the markets of the two countries and support for the business community in developing cooperation, the spokesman added.

On Wednesday, in Ramallah, the parties also signed memorandums of understanding and cooperation on labor issues, cooperation in the field of energy and the exchange of statistical data on mutual trade. The State of Palestine expressed its interest in expanding the list of goods for duty-free trade in the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

"We discussed some possibilities of expanding the duty free trade with Palestinian goods which are represented on the EAEU market at a zero rate. It concerns studying the list of goods in order to give some significant preferences to the Palestinian state," he said adding that the issue requires discussions among the five states of the Eurasian community.

Since October 2016, some Palestinian goods which are exported to the EAEU have been freed from customs duties.

The EAEU comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

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