Supreme Eurasian Economic Council to Convene on Monday in St. Petersburg

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The key event of the meeting will be the adoption of the Customs Code.

The draft document was approved by the heads of governments of the EAEU members — Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan — after talks in Moscow in November. In early December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Tigran Sargsyan that the EAEU Customs Code was planned to be approved on December 26 at the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.

The EAEU Customs Code is a document regulating the customs relations on the territory of the bloc. In accordance with Article 32 of the EAEU Treaty, there should be common customs regulations on the territory of the union.

It is also expected to adopt a number of other important multilateral instruments, including those aimed at the promotion of the formation of the common Eurasian market. In particular, a Program of formation of the common EAEU energy market and the development of the Concept of formation of the common EAEU financial market. It is expected that the leaders of the member states will approve plans for the liberalization of the service sector as well.

The leaders are expected to approve the main directions of the international activity of the Union for 2017 and to consider various aspects of the cooperation with key trade and economic partners of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Functioning since 2015, the Eurasian Economic Union is a Russia-initiated regional political and economic bloc that aims to streamline the flow of goods and services between its members.