"According to our data, the trade turnover between the EAEU and China will exceed the pre-pandemic level this year and will amount to a record 165 mln dollars. This demonstrates high intensity and complementarity of trade relations", he noted.
Andrey Slepnev has stressed that the EAEU countries and China adhere to common approaches to such burning issues of international trade as the need to depoliticize economic cooperation and prevent using discriminatory practices and unfair competition.
The Joint Commission’s meeting headed by Wang Shouwen, Deputy Minister of Commerce, from the Chinese side, discussed the progress of preparing a roadmap for implementing the Agreement between the EAEU and the PRC the key section of which includes developing digital transport corridors. As the Minister noted, "digitalization of rail transportation can have a cumulative effect".
During the meeting, the sides continued the dialogue on applying trade protection measures, considered issues of competition, technical barriers to trade, customs cooperation and trade facilitation.
Special attention was paid to an urgent concern related to the Chinese side’s decision not to approve imported frozen products that have not been tested for COVID-19 for sale which leads to massive downtime of rolling stock at land border crossings.
"Realizing the importance of ensuring security of ultimate food product consumers in the territory of the PRC, the Eurasian Economic Commission considers it important to strike a balance between measures to control the pandemic and promote trade", Andrey Slepnev stated.Issues of green trade and green investment were discussed as well. The EEC Minister in charge of Trade suggested the Chinese side to develop a dialogue in the field of low-carbon energy, noting however that "the climate agenda should not be a basis for protectionism and unfair competition". This position is shared by the Chinese side which proposed to strengthen interaction between the PRC and the Union States during key events on the global climate agenda - primarily within the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as at the venue of the WTO and other international organizations.
The Joint Commission’s next meeting will be organized by the Eurasian Economic Union’s side in priority sequence. "We hope that the epidemiological situation will enable preparing and holding a face-to-face meeting which is of utmost importance for achieving results", Andrey Slepnev said.