Russia, ASEAN states may sign free trade deals - vice-premier

JAKARTA, April 20. /TASS/. Russia and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may sign free trade agreements, using a deal between the post-Soviet trade bloc and Vietnam as an example, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on Monday. Dvorkovich is heading the Russian delegation at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Jakarta. By late 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community is expected to come into operation. This association envisages the creation of a common market for the region’s ten key countries comprising Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines, the Russian vice-premier said. "This only facilitates our relations because we can agree in a quicker regime on common rules of the game. Others [other countries] may follow our agreement with Vietnam. They will do this easier because we’ll already have experience while these countries are harmonized in the field of legislation and common rules of the game. This gives a possibility to work quickly upon signing these agreements," Dvorkovich said. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in early April after talks with his Vietnamese counterpart that the preparations for a free trade deal between Vietnam and the post-Soviet Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) had reached its final stage. The Russian premier said he expected the document to be signed soon. The Vietnamese prime minister said the free trade deal could be signed in the first half of 2015. The Treaty on establishing the Eurasian Economic Union was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in Astana on May 29, 2014 and went into effect from January 1, 2015. The post-Soviet trade bloc established to ensure a free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce on its territory currently comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. The free trade deal between the EEU and Vietnam will help expand Russia’s access to the Vietnamese market and the market of the ASEAN member states, Eurasian Economic Commission Trade Minister Andrei Slepnyov said in late March. Read more