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Eurasian Economic Union's prime ministers discussing elimination of market restrictions

The future of the union is also on the agenda

ASTANA, August 14. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is attending a meeting of the Eurasian inter-governmental council in Astana. The meeting began with a narrow format meeting with only the chief delegates (EAEU heads of government) taking part. Other delegates will join in later.

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev welcomed the participants in the meeting and thanked their countries’ support and active participation in the EXPO-2017 exhibition underway in Astana.

"Today we are to discuss a number of important issues requiring more detailed examination, such as the digital agenda, an agreement on the mechanism to track the flow of goods, an agreement on pension insurance, a report by the commission on progress in concluding a temporary agreement leading to the creation of free trade zones between EAEU and Iran and some other issues," Sagintayev said.

On the agenda there is a wide range of issues concerning EAEU functioning and development. "The focus will be on the industrial aspects of integration," a Russian government official said. The session is expected to produce a number of decisions concerning a well-coordinated transport policy, control of various aspects of forming an integral energy market and the tracking of commodity flows in the territory of the member countries’ territories.

"The inter-governmental council’s members will review the Eurasian Economic Commission’s report on progress in drafting a document on the implementation of the Union’s digital agenda up to 2025," the Russian government’s staff said.

Also, the EAEU heads of government will look into ways of eliminating restrictions on the Union’s internal market.

"In particular, the council’s members will summarize the intermediate results of the work on a draft treaty on pension insurance of the union’s member-states and the mutual recognition of driving licenses," the Russian government’s official said.

Topical issues on the EAEU’s international agenda will be touched upon, including the drafting of a temporary agreement leading to the emergence of a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran.

While in Astana Medvedev will hold separate meetings with the EAEU heads of to discuss bilateral trading and economic cooperation.