EAEU & Egypt May Sign Free Trade Agreement This Year, Official Says

The Eurasian Economic Union may sign an agreement on a free trade zone with Egypt by the end of the year, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

"I think that we will still have time to do this this year in order to sign an agreement on a free trade zone with Egypt. This is very important for our enterprises, which will have a sufficiently preferential regime to enter the market. The import duty will be updated for about half of Belarusian goods in general. This is a very good support for the Belarusian economy," Myasnikovich, who is from Belarus, stated.

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The EEC Board chairman stressed the importance of Egypt as a nation via which it is possible to trade with many African countries.

Myasnikovich also recalled that the EAEU is set to sign a free trade agreement with Iran.

"This is very important for Belarus, because the protective duties that are in effect in this country today are quite high, and our products cannot compete with Iran's national goods. We have reached more than 99 percent so that support is due to more preferential penetration into the market of this state," the chairman of the EEC Board noted.

According to Chris Devonshire-Ellis, chairman of pan-Asian business management consulting firm Dezan Shira & Associates, global organizations like the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), EAEU, and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have recently "gone through expansion and development with increasing numbers of countries joining some or all of these organizations".

He noted that the EAEU, as a trade group that "has largely been disparaged in the West as being moribund and slow moving," has been developing "despite a difficult start," so foreign investors should take note.

"The main reason that international investors should take note is that it [EAEU] offers access to nearly all of Central Asia as well as Russia, and that it has a lengthy queue of other nations wishing to sign agreements with it," Devonshire-Ellis outlined. "It has nowhere near reached its full potential: investors should be looking to get a foothold, adapt, learn and progress before the competition for EAEU market share starts to arrive."