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Eurasian Economic Union

EAEU-UAE talks on free trade zone creation to start shortly — Russian ministry

Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Dmitry Volvach also noted the ongoing talks on the free trade zone creation with India and Egypt, the plans to shift to a full-fledged free trade zone agreement with Iran, as well as a decision made to start the negotiations on a similar agreement with Indonesia

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. The talks on the creation of a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will start shortly, Russian Deputy Economic Development Minister Dmitry Volvach said on Tuesday.

"We plan to start the route of the dialogue (on the free trade zone creation - TASS) with colleagues from the UAE in the near future. Concurrently a dialogue with international organizations continues developing," he said.

The Union is open and is expanding cooperation with countries and other integrations, Volvach said, adding that the existing pool of trade agreements will only increase in the short term.

He also noted the ongoing talks on the free trade zone creation with India and Egypt, the plans to shift to a full-fledged free trade zone agreement with Iran, as well as a decision made to start the negotiations on a similar agreement with Indonesia.

Earlier reports said that the text of the future document on the creation of a free trade zone with the UAE would cover the issues of tariff liberalization and technical barriers, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs and sector cooperation, e-commerce and intellectual property, transparency and trade protection policies.

Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said earlier that the United Arab Emirates was Russia’s key trade partner in the Arab region, adding that trade turnover between the two coutnries soared five-fold over the past three years. It hit a record $9 bln last year, while the tourist flow to the UAE from Russia surpassed the pre-pandemic figures reaching 1.2 mln trips in 2022, Reshetnikov noted.

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Eurasian Economic Union

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