India, EAEU sign start of talks on free-trade zone deal

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 5 (PRIME) -- India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which  comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, have signed a statement on initiation of negotiations of a free-trade zone agreement, according to information obtained by PRIME on June 3.

“We are at the beginning of the road here. Such difficult negotiations are usually held for several years. So we don’t know when they will finish. But we will try to do it in reasonable time. The term of two or three years will be a success,” Veronika Nikishina, the trade minister of the Eurasian Economic Commission, told PRIME.

Previously, Nikishina said that the agreement may boost the combined gross domestic product of the EAEU states by U.S. $2.7 billion in the long run and by up to $1.5 billion in the short run.

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