ASEAN Mulling Possibility To Start Talks Over Free Trade Deal With EAEU - Sergey Lavrov

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considering the possibility to start negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on creation of a free trade agreement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2019) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is considering the possibility to start negotiations with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on creation of a free trade agreement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday.

"There is ASEAN, which is also interested in developing contacts with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the EAEU. Vietnam has already signed a free trade agreement with the EAEU, and Singapore is in talks. And ASEAN, as an organization, is also thinking about starting such negotiations with the EAEU," Lavrov told a briefing for representatives of the Association of European Businesses.

The EAEU, comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, is an international organization that encourages regional economic integration through the free movement of goods, services, and people within the union. In May, the EAEU Supreme Council voted in favor of granting Moldova the observer status during the council's meeting in the Russian resort city of Sochi.