EAEU Hopes To Strike Deals With Serbia, Singapore On Free Trade Zone In 2019 - Official

NUR-SULTAN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2019) SULTAN, May 17 (Sputnik) - The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) hopes that the agreements on creating free trade zones with Singapore and Serbia will be signed in 2019, Tatyana Valovaya, Member of the board (Minister) on the Main Areas of Integration and Macroeconomics at the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), said on Friday.

"We hope that this year the agreements with Singapore and Serbia will be completed and the documents will be signed," Valovaya said during a press conference at the Sputnik Kazakhstan multimedia press center.

Valovaya noted that many countries call for deeper cooperation with the EAEU.

"We understand that the agreement on [creating] a free trade zone is not the only format. We have other interaction formats and they have shown their effectiveness, for example, memorandums of cooperation between the EAEU and a number of countries," she stated, adding that the bloc may sign a memorandum agreement with Indonesia this year.

In April, the trade minister of the EAEU, Veronika Nikishina, said that the bloc and Serbia concluded talks on creating a free trade zone. She added that similar talks with Singapore were nearing completion and a corresponding agreement was also expected this year.

The Eurasian integration process was slow in 1990s, but accelerated in 2000s when Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan set up the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) that functioned in 2000-2014. In 2010, the Eurasian Customs Union was established.

Finally, the Treaty on the EAEU was officially signed in 2015. The organization provides for free movement of goods, services, capital and labor, determined by the union's treaty and international agreements. The member states include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. According to the data from the union's website, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the whole bloc is about $1.9 trillion.