The CIS member nations are ready to sign an agreement on free trade in services, according to the CIS Executive Committee.
Speaking at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government that took place through video-conference, CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev noted on November 12 that an agreement on a free trade in services within the CIS is planned to be prepared for signing by May 2022.
"We anticipate the following procedure of preparing the agreement for signing: endorsement of the draft agreement text at the CIS Economic Council’s meeting in December 2021, the scheduled date is December 2; in March 2022 – endorsement of the list of commitments and approval of the whole package for signing at the next meeting of the CIS Economic Council; submission of the agreement for signing to Prime Ministers of CIS member-states in May 2022," the official was cited as saying
He reportedly further noted that extra amendments to the draft agreement might result in a change to the timing. “We look forward to being able to complete the decade-long joint work on the agreement under the presidency of the Republic of Kazakhstan," Lebedev added.
According to him, the text of the agreement implies that countries other than CIS member-states can join it “under certain conditions.”
It is believed that the Agreement will help increase the volume of investments and give more opportunities for expansion of economic cooperation between the CIS member nations.
Over the first six months of this year, the mutual trade between the CIS member nations (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) has reportedly reached 73.4 billion U.S. dollars.
Trade in Services refers to the sale and delivery of an intangible product, called a service, between a producer and consumer. Trade in services that takes place between a producer and consumer that are, in legal terms, based in different countries is called International Trade in Services. Some of the most common examples of trade in service would be business and professional services.
