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First round of talks on EAEU-China free trade zone due in mid-October — source

MOSCOW, October 4./TASS/. The first round of talks on a zone of free trade between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China will be held in mid-October in Moscow, a source from the office of the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Tigran Sargsyan, said.

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"The first round of talks on a free trade zone with China will be held in Moscow in mid-October," the source said.

Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese Premier Li Kequiang will meet in St. Petersburg on November 7-8. Top on the agenda will be work on an agreement to establish bigger Eurasian economic partnership that could bring together EAEU states, India, China, Pakistan as well as other countries that will wish to join.

A bilateral agreement between Russia and China or an agreement between the EAEU and China, envisaging the setting up of a free-trade zone, could be the first stage of such an agreement. This agreement can be signed within two years, Shuvalov said.

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