On 6 October 2016, the Eurasian Economic Commission announced that the Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and its Member States and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam entered into force on 5 October 2016. The EAEU consists of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation. According to the announcement, the Vietnamese government will eliminate 59% of duties on goods from EAEU members immediately and gradually reduce the rates…
On 23 August 2016, the new UK Department for International Trade (DIT) released a “Survey to identify trade and investment barriers in 7 overseas markets”.
The UK government is planning to hold joint economic and trade committee meetings with Brazil, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam by the end of 2016. The aim of these dialogues is to discuss bilateral trade and investment issues and to strengthen the UK’s economic, industrial and commercial ties with these markets.
On 30 November 2015, the WTO announced that Kazakhstan became the 162nd WTO member, closing the 20-year long chapter of negotiating its accession terms with WTO members. By depositing the “Instrument of Acceptance” of its membership terms with Director-General Roberto Azevêdo on 31 October 2015, Kazakhstan activated the 30-day countdown to its WTO membership, which became effective on 30 November 2015. Kazakhstan’s Accession Package was approved by the Working Party members on 22 June 2015 and…
On 20 January 2015, the European Commission announced that the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was initialed. According to the announcement, this agreement will greatly facilitate stronger political and economic relations between Kazakhstan and the EU. It will increase the flow of trade, services and investment between the parties and will contribute to Kazakhstan’s political and social development. The initialing of the Agreement is an important step towards its eventual signature and subsequent implementation.…
On 23 December 2014, the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan held a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, to take the last decisions before the agreement on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC or Евразийскому экономическому союзу (ЕАЭС)) entered into force on 1 January 2015. According to Rossiskaya Gazeta, the Russian labor market will change as workers from any of the members (except Kyrgyzstan) will be able to work in Russia,…
On May 12, 2014, the Prime Minister’s website announced that from June 1, 2014, Kazakhstan was introducing a temporary restriction on the importation and sale of alcoholic beverages. The restrictions will apply to alcoholic beverages from Russia and Belarus as well as third countries (Italy, France, Scotland and others) because of labeling and violations relating to technical requirements and food safety requirements. According to the Russian language version of the announcement, the labels fail to…
On 31 January 2014, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that it pursued its talks with the member states of the customs union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan from 27 to 30 January 2014 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Member States of EFTA are Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The announcement stated: At the round, delegations focused on issues related to trade in goods, including customs and origin as well as sanitary and phytosanitary matters.…