Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan are all members of the Free Trade Area for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CISFTA), which is a zone of free trade. Except for Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova, and Tajikistan, all five CISFTA members are a part of the Eurasian Economic Union, which is made up of a single economic market. However, Moldova and Uzbekistan are observers.
Membership
On October 18, 2011, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, and Armenia signed the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Zone Agreement, which had been advocated since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The deal replaces the nations’ previous bilateral and multilateral free trade accords. Initially, only Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine signed the pact; but, by the end of 2012, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Moldova had also finished the process. The remaining two signatories, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, ratified the agreement after Uzbekistan did in December 2013 and in January 2014 and December 2015, respectively. The only complete CIS member state that does not take part in the free trade zone in Azerbaijan.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
Russian is the working language of the Commonwealth of the Independent States, a regional organization with its administrative headquarters in Belarus. Its nine members (countries of the former Soviet Republics) are Ukraine as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The Agreement Establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, often known as the Creation Agreement, was signed on December 8, 1991, the day the Commonwealth of Independent States was established by the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine. The fundamental objectives of the Creation Agreement were to establish a single economic area with unrestricted trade in products, services, labor, and capital as well as to foster the growth of direct production relationships.
Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area (CISFTA)
Although the CIS’s free trade zone was established in 1994, no agreements were ever formally sealed at that time. A new FTA was first proposed in 2009, and eight of the eleven CIS prime ministers—Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine—finally agreed to it at a summit in St. Petersburg in October 2011. A variety of commodities are exempt from export and import taxes thanks to the free trade agreement. The fundamental tenets of currency regulation and currency restrictions in the CIS are also covered in an agreement. The first motivation for post-Soviet integration is linked to the fact that many ex-Soviet commodities are not as competitive as those made abroad. Many manufacturing sectors (textiles, food processing, woodworking, etc.) would come under pressure from low-cost imports if trade restrictions were removed, and better quality would be eliminated. To temporarily prevent the flow of foreign goods, the CIS nations were interested in developing an economic structure of collective protection for domestic businesses.
Free Trade Agreements with CIS countries
Georgia has FTAs with the CIS nations as well as its neighbors – Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. The CISFTA guarantees free trade between the member nations of the FTA, the elimination of quantitative trade barriers, non-application of import customs duties, non-discrimination, and a gradual reduction of export customs duties. The CISFTA stipulates that WTO standards will apply to government procurement, the transit of goods through customs, the use of special safeguards, anti-dumping and countervailing duties, technical trade barriers, the provision of subsidies, and other measures used in trade between its signatories.
Benefits of CISFTA
Businesses can gain greatly from the CISFTA. Except for those permitted by the CISFTA, such as anti-dumping, safeguard, or countervailing measures, parties to an FTA do not impose additional trade obstacles. The majority of products of Georgian origin that are exported to CIS countries are duty-free. There is freedom of passage, except for transit by pipeline transport, and the Parties are not permitted to voluntarily increase the customs charges applicable to the products named in the addenda.
New strategy for handling trade disputes in light of joining the WTO
The Economic Court of the CIS is where disputes between CIS FTA members are resolved. A member state may choose to use the WTO dispute resolution processes to resolve a disagreement involving WTO regulations.
