EEC Council to consider drafting agreement on single market for oil, petroleum products

MINSK. Nov 2 (Interfax) - The Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) will consider preparing an agreement on a single market for oil and petroleum products at a meeting to be attended in person by deputy prime ministers of the Eurasian Economic Council (EAEU) in Moscow on November 18, EEC spokesperson Iya Malkina said.

"EEC Council members will discuss the issue of preparing an agreement forming single markets for oil and petroleum products within the Eurasian Economic Union, determining entities that will organize a centralized trade in power energy under fixed term contracts on a single power energy market within the Union and the organization that will organize a centralized trade in power energy on one-day-ahead conditions on such a market," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Malkina as saying at a press briefing on Wednesday.

It is announced that there are plans to discuss at the meeting measures needed to attain main targets set within the macroeconomic policies of EAEU countries for 2022-2023. Participants will also discuss a draft agreement on cross-boundary access to the placement and flow of securities within organized trading in EAEU member countries, a draft agreement on mutual recognition of bank guarantees with regard to state or municipal procurement purchases.

"The agenda also includes results of the monitoring and analysis of the plan of measures to improve the level of availability of strategically important medications and pharmaceutical substances for medical use, production of which must be facilitated within the Union by 2024, the issue of amending the Union technical regulation on the safety of food products, modification of the single list of goods subject to veterinary control (oversight), and the implementiation of the list of measures to raise the resilience of the economies of EAEU member countries," Malkina said.

EAEU has been functioning since January 1, 2015. The union consists of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Uzbekistan has observer status under the decision adopted at an EAEU summit in 2020. Moldova and Cuba are also EAEU observer states.