Kyrgyzstan ratifies FTA between EEU, Vietnam

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev ratified Thursday the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Vietnam, the presidential office said Thursday.

The agreement, signed on May 29, 2015 in Kazakhstan and scheduled to enter into effect in the summer of 2016, is aimed at ensuring the free trade regime, such as zero tariffs and free access to markets, to benefit the free flow of commodities, services, and investment among the countries concerned.

The agreement also covers sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property, public procurement, competitiveness, sustainable development and e-commerce.

The agreement also prescribes measures to protect the signing countries' domestic markets and balance of payments, and their subsidizing of industrial and agricultural commodities in accordance with the World Trade Organization regulations, so as to offset the impact of mounting imports.

As for anti-dumping and countermeasures, the EEU members will be handled by Vietnam as separate parties, according to the agreement.

The agreement was the first of its kind signed by the members of the EEU, comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, with a foreign country. Earlier Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Kazakhstan have ratified the agreement. Endi