BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/01/2010

Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan introduce common customs union

Moscow, Jan 2 : Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have introduced common customs tariffs starting January 1 in line with an agreement to form a common customs union.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month signed an agreement with his Belarus and Kazakh counterparts Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev respectively, in Minsk to create a custom union with common tariffs, paving the way for a single economic space.

The three former Soviet republics are planning to introduce a common customs space in July 2010 and form a single economic space in January 2012.

The customs union will bring Russia an additional 400 billion dollar in revenue and over 16 billion dollar to Kazakhstan and Belarus.

The union could help the countries take key positions on the global energy and grain markets.

In June 2009, the heads of governments of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of their intention to join the world trade body as a customs union.

The three countries suspended their bilateral negotiations on the WTO entry to hold consultations on a common position on the customs union.

In October 2009, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus announced they would resume talks on WTO accession separately, but on synchronized positions.

Source:

http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-22978.html


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