EEU-Israel talks on free trade zone scheduled for October

"We hope that in October the Presidents of the EEU member states will make a decision on this matter and we will start the negotiations on a free trade zone with Israel," said Andrei Slepnev.

Experts believe that the creation of the free trade regime between the EEU and Israel will benefit all parties. "However, given the volume of the Israeli economy the impact of the free trade area is unlikely to be substantial but it will certainly be positive," the Minister said. According to him, the establishment of the free trade zone with Israel will open up good prospects for cooperation in the supply of agricultural products, medicines, telecommunications equipment. "In addition to the commodity component, we expect that the agreement will encourage the exchange of investment and technology," the Minister said. At its last meeting the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission adopted a decision to launch the joint study group on a free trade zone between the EEU and Iran. "Iran is not a member of the WTO. Therefore the agreement with it will be a special format. We expect that the first contacts will take place in the autumn," said Andrei Slepnev. The feasibility studies on a free trade area with the Republic of Korea have been also scheduled. So far this work will be at the scientific and expert level.