Vietnam Signs Free Trade Deal With Russia-led EEU Economic Block

“The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Vietnam signed a free trade zone agreement on Thursday. It became the first international document on creating a free trade zone between the EEU and a third party,” RT reports.

“The deal to establish the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014 in Astana. The EEU, which came into effect on January 1, 2015, is designed to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce on its territory. The EEU currently comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. Ratification procedures are currently under way for Kyrgyzstan to join the trade bloc,” RT noted.

In the meantime TASS reported today that “prime ministers of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) adopted a range of strategic documents after a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council on Friday. The documents include basic guidelines for economic development of the EAEU, a plan of actions to promote the development of the light industry, a plan of actions to promote the production and use of electricity-driven motor transport. They also signed resolutions on the formation of Eurasian technological platforms, on promoting production of machines and equipment for agriculture.“

Russia is also interested in Latin American associations’ integration into the EEU, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on March, 25th this year, TASS news agency reported.

At the end of February this year, TASS news agency reported that India would start negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan within the next six months. India started working on the project last year when in November supported a proposal to establish a workshop to sign the agreement with the EEU.

Last December, the executive body of the EEU and a Kazakh business lobby had dismissed the possibility of switching to national currencies in trade within the Russia-led trade bloc instead of the current system of using dollars and euros in some transactions.