EAEU, Egypt to hold next round of free trade talks in Oct, expect progress on lowering duties

MOSCOW. Sept 13 (Interfax) - The next round of negotiations on the creation of a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Egypt will be held from October 11 to 13 and one of the points on the agenda will be mutual reduction of import duties, the trade department of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) said.

"We attach great importance to this round, since it could become decisive in some sense. We hope to make significant progress on the key issue, the parameters of mutual reduction of import duties, as well as on the preparation of the final text of the draft agreement," EEC Trade Minister Andrei Slepnev was quoted as saying in the press release.

Trade and economic cooperation between the EAEU and Egypt was discussed at a meeting between Slepnev and Egypt's ambassador to Russia, Nazih El-Nagari.

"The issue of developing relations with Egypt is very important to us and we are devoting a great deal of attention to it. We see how rapidly trade is developing. The trade turnover is growing by almost 40% this year compared to last year, and there was also growth before this. Both our shipments to Egypt and Egyptian shipments to us are growing. We intend to increase the scale of our economic cooperation further," Slepnev said.

He also said that the EAEU is devoting a great deal of attention to the creation of the Russian Industrial Zone in Egypt, which is drawing interest from companies in Russia, as well as Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries.