MINSK, 27 September (BelTA) - The CIS Free Trade Agreement has yielded positive results over the past ten years, Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee - CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev told the media in Minsk on 27 September, BelTA has learned.
"The CIS Free Trade Agreement celebrates the 10th anniversary in early October. It was signed in October 2011. It has yielded positive results. The CIS states have removed import duties, many restrictions on mutual trade. Mutual trade has intensified, despite the difficult economic situation in the world and numerous sanctions, primarily against the Russian Federation and Belarus. But together, we coped with these temporary, as I hope, difficulties including thanks to the CIS Free Trade Agreement. Today CIS Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives will discuss what has been done and what needs to be done for the further successful implementation of this agreement," said Sergei Lebedev.
According to him, the CIS countries are taking joint actions. "We are working on on retaliatory measures, joint efforts to counter and neutralize the negative impact of these sanctions. There is a close coordination of such actions between Russia and Belarus within the framework of the Union State, with other states. There is no collective document yet. Nevertheless, there is solidarity in confronting those states that impose sanctions against us," Sergei Lebedev noted
The CIS Executive Committee in Minsk will host a meeting of the CIS Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives on 27 September. The agenda includes seven items. Among them are the draft agendas for the meetings of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers and the CIS Council of Heads of State due on in Minsk on 14-15 October.
The council will also hear out the reports on the activities of the Interstate Space Council, the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement and the CIS Council of Heads of Penitentiary Services.
The council also plans to name the head of the CIS observation mission at the parliamentary elections in the Kyrgyz Republic, which are scheduled for 28 November 2021.
