Petrishenko: it’s necessary to ensure prompt entry into force of CIS agreement on free trade in services

It’s necessary to ensure the entry into force of the CIS agreement on free trade in services as quickly as possible – as noted by Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko during a meeting of the CIS Economic Council via video conference

He congratulated all participants of the session on the signing of a key agreement in the field of services and investments.

“We have received a solid document based on the provisions of the WTO agreements and taking into account international experience. It’s especially important that the document is not limited in duration and is open for accession by any state. The more effective our co-operation in these areas is, the more interest in the CIS will be shown by external partners, in which we are all, of course, interested.”

In his opinion, the priority task at the moment is to carry out as quickly as possible the domestic procedures necessary for the entry into force of the agreement.

“I propose to take this process under personal control in order to exclude unwanted delays,” he added.

He also recalled that during the meeting of the CIS Heads of Government Council in Sochi, Belarus’ PM Roman Golovchenko suggested establishing an industry council for services and investments to monitor the implementation of the agreement and promptly consider emerging issues, “I ask the CIS Executive Committee to take on a co-ordinating role in this issues, promptly work out this initiative with the parties and report on the results at a meeting of the Economic Council before the end of this year.”