MOSCOW, 22 April (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia presented schemes for forming a common merchandise exchange market of the Eurasian Economic Union at a session of the working group on creating the Eurasian exchange market in the headquarters of the Eurasian Economic Commission, BelTA has learned.
By July 2022 the Eurasian Economic Commission is supposed to prepare a report with proposals, a list of goods for selling via exchange trade, resulting financial tools, and exchange and off-exchange price indicators. Belarus suggested setting up a common market by using capabilities of existing exchanges and trading initially with assistance of the national exchange participants. Later on back orders of the national exchanges will be sent to a specifically established international data processing center for finding matching offers and sealing the deals. The approach can satisfy domestic demand and interests of national traders. Russia suggested trading at all the national mercantile exchanges by allowing representatives of all the Eurasian Economic Union member states to trade. Russia believes it will create competition among national mercantile exchanges and will encourage their development. The sides agreed to add both approaches to the report as a result of the discussion.
Member of the Board (Minister) for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergei Glazyev said that the topicality of this work had increased taking into account the geopolitical situation. “From the point of view of pricing processes and the currency infrastructure we turned out to be dependent on western systems,” the official noted. “Now we have to think about forming the exchange space and about creating our own pricing system based on national currencies.”
The sides discussed the list of goods, which are supposed to be traded on the common exchange market of the Eurasian Economic Union. The initially suggested commodities include coal, mineral fertilizers, vegetable oil, sugar, meal, oilcakes, timber, metal, building materials, cement, and gold. Once exchange trade rules are agreed and restrictive measures or prohibitions against export and import within the framework of mutual trade are lifted, it will be possible to expand the list with electricity, natural gas, oil, oil products, and grain.
Director of the Macroeconomic Policy Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission Askar Dzhapparkulov noted that the first few test trading sessions are supposed to take place at the mercantile exchange ETS (Kazakhstan) and the Saint Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (Russia) in May-June. Representatives of the Eurasian Economic Union countries will take part in them. The test sessions will allow modeling and practicing trade procedures within the framework of the common mercantile exchange market of the Eurasian Economic Union. Results of the experiment will be added to the report, Askar Dzhapparkulov said.
The working group on creating the Eurasian exchange market was established in April 2021. It includes representatives of authorized bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union member states, mercantile exchanges, and manufacturers of exchange goods of the member states as well as representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission. The formation of the common mercantile exchange market of the Eurasian Economic Union is stipulated by the strategy on advancing Eurasian economic integration till 2025. The program on developing exchange trade in goods is supposed to be adopted by 31 December 2024.
