Lukashenko calls for integration in CIS, EAEU service sector to be accelerated

MINSK. Sept 30 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) to accelerate their integration in the service sector at a meeting with the heads of government delegations attending the meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the CIS Council of Heads of Government in Minsk.

"I consider it necessary to specifically state my political will in this issue and declare our firm commitment to speeding up integration in the service sector, at the same time intensifying investment cooperation," the BelTA state-run news agency quoted Lukashenko as saying on Tuesday.

Since the EAEU and CIS were established over ten years and nearly 35 years ago, a real internal market has been created for trade in goods, albeit with certain exemptions and restrictions, he said. However, the situation in trade in services remains at the level of basic agreements, although this sector accounts for more than half of both integration associations' GDP.

Interlinking the EAEU and CIS formats helps "scale up the potential of economic cooperation on a vast integration scale and jointly address the most complex tasks in the real sector of the economy," Lukashenko said.