Moscow - The possible creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union could lead to the imposition of protective measures by the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Trade Minister Andrei Slepnev told reporters.
“There is a legal aspect here and an economic one. From the legal point of view, there are no problems with the existence of two free trade areas. We have a number of countries in which there are not two but several dozen agreements on free trade,” Slepnev said in response to a question about whether there could be two free trade areas for Ukraine with the EU and within the CIS.
He said the issue of relations between Russia and Ukraine was discussed extensively when agreements were concluded on free trade within the CIS.
“Here the only thing that could arise is if Ukraine’s participation in a free trade area with another major partner (the EU, perhaps in future China or someone else) has a significant negative impact on producers in the Customs Union. In that case, the Customs Union has the ability to impose the relevant protective measures,” Slepnev said, adding that such a possibility is spelled out in the free trade treaty and Ukraine “knows [this] quite well.”
“As for entering into free trade agreements, here each party must weigh the effect of this political step for itself, how this will affect its domestic production, trade, including with other partners,” Slepnev said.
