Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area

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Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area
CISFTA (orthographic projection).svg
TypeFree-trade area
Member states
Establishment
• Free trade agreement signed
18 October 2011
• Free Trade Area established
20 September 2012

Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area (CISFTA) is a free-trade area between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Five CISFTA participants, all except Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Tajikistan, are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, comprising a single economic market. Uzbekistan and Moldova are observers however.

History[]

The Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Zone Agreement, proposed since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, was signed on 18 October 2011 by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Armenia.[1] The agreement replaces existing bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements between the countries. Initially, the treaty was only ratified by Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine,[2][3] however by the end of 2012, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Moldova had also completed ratification.[4][5] In December 2013, Uzbekistan signed and then ratified the treaty,[6][7] while the remaining two signatories, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, later both ratified the treaty in January 2014 and December 2015 respectively.[8][9] Azerbaijan is the only full CIS member state not to participate in the free trade area.

European Union–Ukraine trade agreement controversy[]

From 1 January 2016, Ukraine and the European Union started provisionally applying a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Member states of the Eurasian Economic Union held consultations on 22 December 2015 to discuss the implications of the agreement concerning the possible duty-free transit of EU goods into the EEU via Ukraine. The states agreed to implement a provisional scheme later in 2016 that would impose customs checks on goods entering the EEU from Ukraine; and long term, to establish a common information system to control all imports into the EEU's customs area.[10] Nonetheless, Russia promulgated a decree in mid-December 2015 suspending its CIS Free Trade Agreement with respect to Ukraine from 1 January 2016.[11] In late December, the Ukrainian Government responded by passing trade restrictions on Russia, with effect from 2 January 2016.[12] Agreements between Ukraine and other EEU states within the free trade area remain in effect.

Signature and ratification[]

GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic DevelopmentGeorgia (country)AzerbaijanUkraineMoldovaTajikistanTurkmenistanCollective Security Treaty OrganizationEurasian Economic UnionUzbekistanKyrgyzstanKazakhstanArmeniaUnion StateBelarusRussiaCommonwealth of Independent StatesCommonwealth of Independent States Free Trade AreaBaltic AssemblyLithuaniaLatviaEstoniaCommunity for Democracy and Rights of NationsTransnistriaAbkhaziaSouth OssetiaRepublic of Artsakh
An Euler diagram showing the relationships among various supranational organisations in the territory of the former Soviet Unionvd

An overview of signatures and ratifications is shown below:

State Signature Entry into Force[13] Comment
 Armenia[14] 18 October 2011 17 October 2012 EAEU member
 Belarus 18 October 2011 20 September 2012 EAEU member
 Kazakhstan 18 October 2011 8 December 2012 EAEU member
 Kyrgyzstan 18 October 2011 13 December 2013 EAEU member
 Moldova 18 October 2011 9 December 2012 EAEU observer
 Russia[note 1] 18 October 2011 20 September 2012 EAEU member
 Tajikistan 18 October 2011 19 March 2016
 Ukraine[note 2] 18 October 2011 20 September 2012 Former CIS participant
 Uzbekistan 13 December 2013 12 January 2014 EAEU observer

See also[]

References[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ Suspended with regard to Ukraine from 2 January 2016
  2. ^ Suspended with regard to Russia from 1 January 2016

Online sources[]

  1. ^ CIS leaders sign free trade deal, 2011-10-18
  2. ^ Russia’s Duma ratifies Eurasian Economic Union, odessatalk.com. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  3. ^ CIS Free Trade Agreement comes into force; Baker & McKenzi, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 18, 2012, 2011-10-18
  4. ^ Kazakhstan ratified agreement on Free Trade zone www.kaztag.kz. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  5. ^ Armenia ratifies CIS free trade zone agreement, arka.am. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  6. ^ Usbekistan: Protokoll über Beitritt zur GUS-Freihandelszone in Kraft getreten, de.ria.ru 28 December 2013.
  7. ^ Uzbekistan joins CIS free trade zone, azernews.az. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  8. ^ Dushanbe ratifies agreement on CIS free trade area, Vestnik Kavkaza. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  9. ^ Tajikistan ratifies CIS Free Trade Zone Agreement, AKIpress. Retrieved 22 June 2018
  10. ^ Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan work out provisional scheme to control transit via Ukraine, Belarus News. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Russia suspends FTA with Ukraine as EU agreement looms". Eurasian Business Briefing. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  12. ^ Spotlight: EU-Ukraine trade deal triggers new round of economic clashes, news.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  13. ^ http://cis.minsk.by/reestr/ru/index.html#reestr/view/summary?doc=3183
  14. ^ "Eurasian Economic Union: The rocky road to integration - Think Tank". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 9 February 2019.

External links[]

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