Committee approves Eurasian Union's free trade deal with Vietnam

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian government’s legislative committee on Tuesday, February 16 endorsed a free trade deal between the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Vietnam, in a bid to streamline the flow of goods between the EEU and Asia Pacific, Sputnik News reports.

The draft law will now be scrutinized by the Russian government at a meeting. The deal needs to be ratified since it contains regulations that diverge from those enshrined in Russian laws.

"The implementation of the agreement will help boost mutual flow of goods and strengthen trade and economic ties between its signatories, create conditions for the EEU to gain a greater role in integration processes currently going on in the Asia-Pacific region," the Russian government said in a statement.

Vietnam signed a trade pact with the five-member bloc on May 29, 2015. It stipulates that all parties are to tear down all major trade barriers in their markets for imports of other state signatories.

A separate batch of protocols stipulates commitments on bilateral trade in services, company management and travel that Russia and Vietnam maintain as member states of the World Trade Organization.

The Eurasian Economic Union is an economic union of states located primarily in northern Eurasia. A treaty aiming for the establishment of the EEU was signed on May 29, 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on January 1, 2015. Treaties on Armenia and Kyrgyzstan' accession to the Eurasian Economic Union were signed on October 9, 2014 and December23, 2014, respectively, coming into force on January 2, 2015 and August 6, 2015.