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Russian PM calls for lifting barriers within Eurasian Economic Union

According to Medvedev, the aim is to boost trade turnover within the union

SOCHI, August 12. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev considers it important to lift barriers inside the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in order to boost trade turnover.

"It is extremely important to lift the remaining barriers to trigger growth of trade turnover," he said at the extended meeting of the European intergovernmental council on Friday, adding that "the Eurasian Economic Commission has strengthened efforts in this area."

According to Medvedev, all documents related to the union being prepared need to have as few bounds as possible. Prime Minister also said that it is necessary to create environment for a sustainable development of the EAEU national economies amid the current challenging economic situation. The trade weight inside the union has surged by 14.2% while Armenia’s export to the internal market has almost doubled this year, Medvedev said, adding that the structure of trade with other countries is getting more balanced.

New customs code to be approval 

The Russian PM went on to say that the EAEU is close to approval of a new customs code.

"Preparation of a draft new customs code is a topic requiring our immediate attention," Medvedev said. "I think we completed a huge amount of work and we are actually a footstep away from approval of the new customs code," he added.

This is a major achievement, the Russian PM said. The document was worked out in detail and for a long time with participation of business circles to meet their needs. "The process of customs clearance on the Union’s border will be unified and conditions for goods movement will be notably simpler after approval of this customs code," Medvedev said.

"I hope we will be able to promptly finish this work," he added.

The work on the code will end in fall

Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov said in his turn that work on development of the new customs code of the EAEU will end in fall 2016.

"Just a few provisions of this huge document [Customs Code - TASS] are left outstanding according to results of negotiations at the level of heads of customs services. Progress is obvious and there are actually no doubts that work on the code will end this fall," Kobyakov said.

The Belarusian side also supports proactive negotiations on goods traceability mechanism development, he added.