Russian PM comments on SCO free trade zones
"We are now discussing many things in terms of creating free trade zones, first of all, this concerns our main integration structure - I mean our Eurasian Union, and one such agreement has already been concluded - with Vietnam. A free trade zone has been created and it's already operational. There are successes as well as some problems there, that we are discussing. It is always very complicated. As we know, there are several other candidates within the framework of the EAEU, such as Singapore, Israel and a number of other countries, Iran. However, the process of matching the economic interests is always a very complicated process," Dmitry Medvedev said.
"Speaking about a zone within the SCO and a single treaty, this is a bigger and more complicated task. At the moment, we are negotiating along the line of the EAEC on the one hand and the PRC on the other. Given that the Chinese economy is huge, has a tremendous impact on the world economy. Therefore, it is first necessary to train on this model," he added.
"But, in principle, I do not rule out that someday we will reach similar agreements on the scale of the SCO. But this is a higher degree of integration and trust, which should be achieved through negotiations between all SCO members," he said.
In addition, the head of the Russian government noted that there are also members of the EAEU that are not members of the SCO. In this regard, in order to reach agreement on a free trade zone within the SCO, it is first necessary to agree within the EAEU.
"But for the future, I think this is quite an interesting and promising idea," Dmitry Medvedev added.