EEU urged to speed up removing restrictions to free movement of goods
"We proceed from the simple principle: the Eurasian Economic Union is not a new organization. It has, in fact, grown from the integration basis that we launched in 2010. The first step was the Customs Union. What we need to do first thing today is to ensure the maximum compliance with the rules of the Customs Union which provide for the free movement of goods. The head of state and the head of government have repeatedly said that in this part we must be absolutely clear and must ensure that the principle of free movement of goods is respected at all levels, be it a regional level or the level of the national governments," Alexander Guryanov said.
According to Alexander Guryanov, ensuring the free movement of goods implies, among other things, access to public procurement contracts, various government programs, and joint support of export/import operations, BelTA reports.
"With regard to the other areas in what is now a broader concept, the Eurasian Economic Union, these are the service sector, the financial sector and a number of others where we operate to the existing rules of the game. It is no secret that we cannot simultaneously remove all barriers in various service sectors because of the national regulation. The national regulation will remain in place during certain transition periods, and we should be gradually moving towards the final idea of the Eurasian Economic Union, which is to ensure four freedoms (free movement of goods, services, capital and labor)," Alexander Guryanov said.
"With regard to services, we are already on the plan, taking into account the transitional periods. Of course, we can facilitate some things. For example the construction sector is of interest to the Russian Federation as well as to Belarus. Russia is a potentially large market for such services, and we are interested in having all restrictions removed. We have agreed on this and also on the policies of the manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry which is quite strong in the Eurasian Economic Union member states. By 2016, we are set to provide free access to the medicines produced in Belarus in Russia and further in Kazakhstan, Armenia and vice versa. The same applies to the transport sector. Here we proceed from the interests of our carriers. This applies to road and rail transport. In terms of air transport services we need to reach an agreement to provide equal free access to the single market," Alexander Guryanov informed.
