The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) expects that Belarus will early complete procedures for approval of the new Customs Code of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), EEC Board Member (Minister) on Integration and Macroeconomy Tatiana Valovaya told TASS on Monday. Minsk has had no grievances regarding the text of the document until now, she said. TASS reports.
“We raised this issue [regarding Customs Code signing – TASS] for our Belarus counterparts, particularly at the last meeting at deputy prime ministers’ level. Belarus colleagues said they are working on it and look forward to positive conclusion of the process. That is, they had no comments on that document,” the minister said.
The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said at the meeting with reporters on February 3 that he ordered withdrawal of Belarus main specialists from customs authorities of the EAEU. According to Lukashenko, trade turnover of Belarus within the EAEU fell by 40% in 2015 and by 18% more last year.
Valovaya said she has no data whether Belarus withdrew its specialists from EAEU customs bodies. “I do not have such information,” she said.
Significant decline in mutual turnover among EAEU member-states was noted in 2015 and 2016, the EEC minister said. “Our mutual trade contracted because of objective reasons and not because of integration. It declined because of economic growth slowdown; prices for oil and other energy resources fell,” she added.
Meanwhile, statistics already shows that the decline in trade within the Eurasian Economic Union has ended, Valovaya said. “We actually observed the decline in mutual trade because of objective reasons. Growth has surfaced recently. Monthly trade in October and November 2016 were higher than monthly trade volumes in 2015,” she added.
