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Deputy minister: Trans-Pacific free trade zone not to have major effect on Russian economy

"If we take a look at the current situation it almost doesn’t mean anything for us," Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development says

Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Stanislav Voskresensky Ekaterina Shtukina/Russian government's press service/TASS

Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Stanislav Voskresensky

© Ekaterina Shtukina/Russian government's press service/TASS

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Moscow hopes for Trans-Pacific Partnership talks at G20 summit in Antalya — diplomat

MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. The free trade zone, which is currently being created by the countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asian-Pacific region, will not have a major influence on the Russian economy at this stage, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Stanislav Voskresensky said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Monday.

"If we take a look at the current situation it almost doesn’t mean anything for us. There is a common "general equilibrium" model to calculate effects of participation or non-participation in such free trade zones. If we apply this model to today’s Russian economy and structure maximum risk of Russia's non-participation in this kind of agreement will be within error margins," he said.

12 countries accounting for one third of the global trade turnover, are participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which was signed on October 5. Among other states expressing interest to the project are South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Laos, Columbia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and India.

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