The prime ministers of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), at their last meeting this year, closed two issues at once, which had previously been “stuck” due to disagreements for several years – on the use of electronic customs seals in cargo transportation and on the exchange of credit histories of bank clients. The prime ministers also agreed on a roadmap for the development of e-commerce in the EAEU. However, it was not possible to make a decision on one of the key issues in this area, on lowering the threshold for duty-free import in cross-border Internet trade – additional consultations were required for Kazakhstan.
The last meeting of the EEU prime ministers this year was held in Yerevan – having met on Thursday, the heads of government began their work with bilateral meetings and with a narrow-format session. Yesterday, at the meeting, the results of the work were summed up in an expanded format. As in the previous year, when the prime ministers also met in Yerevan, the summit was held against the backdrop of a difficult situation for the host side – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his speech noted a new stage in the escalation of the conflict with Azerbaijan (see Kommersant, November 17).
The rest of the meeting was held as usual – the prime ministers, in particular, recorded the recovery of the union economy. The GDP of the EAEU countries in January-September grew by 4.5% compared to the same period in 2020, the volume of mutual trade – by 32.5%, foreign – by 32.7%. At the same time, the import of goods to the EAEU from third countries increased significantly (by almost 24%, or by $ 27 billion), which made the prime ministers turn to the problem of import substitution. According to Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, a tangible share of the increase in imports “could be occupied by mutual trade within the union” – he proposed to instruct the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) to prepare information on such imports with an analysis of the possibilities of replacing them.
In the meantime, the prime ministers have approved a roadmap for the development of e-commerce – as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted, business will now have “clear and understandable rules of work that exclude additional administrative burden, relying on modern technologies and business processes.” The document provides for a basic package of measures – according to the EEC Minister of Trade Andrei Slepnev, it is planned to develop a draft international treaty, which will include rules governing the work of the single market, provisions on the protection of the rights and interests of participants, on the limitation of unfair practices, on the pre-trial resolution of disputes and on ensuring the sustainability of infrastructure.
However, the prime ministers, apparently, have not yet been able to finally agree on reducing the duty-free import of goods within the framework of cross-border Internet commerce. It was expected that the meeting would consider a gradual reduction of such a threshold from € 200 to € 20 by 2024 (see Kommersant on November 17). But no specific figures were voiced at yesterday’s meeting – Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Zhaparov only noted that decisions need to be made to lower the thresholds for duty-free e-commerce, taking into account the analysis of the results of pilot projects. Roman Golovchenko proposed to sign the corresponding instruction of the intergovernmental council from the four countries of the “five” – additional time for consultations on this issue is still required by Kazakhstan.
Yesterday we managed to “close” two long-standing issues of cooperation between the Union countries. An agreement was agreed on the use of navigation seals in the EAEU for the transportation of goods – due to disagreements, this process took more than five years. According to Nikol Pashinyan, this will allow switching to digital management of freight traffic, reducing the time and financial costs of participants in the logistics process, and optimizing customs procedures. It is now expected that the presidents of the five countries will sign this document in December.
The agreement on the procedure for the exchange of credit history data was also approved yesterday. According to Mikhail Mishustin, this will provide equal opportunities for the citizens of the EAEU when applying for loans throughout the Union, and will allow banks to check the client’s history “regardless of what kind of passport he has.” Work on the document has been going on since 2015, but disagreements (Russia counted on the direct exchange of such data, and Kazakhstan – through government agencies) slowed down the approval process. Following the meeting, the EEC explained that the agreement prescribes interaction at the level of credit bureaus, and also establishes the powers of financial regulators to oversee this cross-border exchange.
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