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09.09.2021 (Обновлено: 06.07.2022 11:21)

Arman Shakkaliev: "Public procurement can become a connectivity platform for the EAEU countries’ business"

Prospects for developing public procurement in the Eurasian Economic Union were discussed on September 8 by attendees of the Moscow Financial Forum organized by the Ministry of Finance of Russia.

Arman Shakkaliev, EEC Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation, has noted that the full-scale and equal participation of the EAEU countries’ suppliers in the Union's procurement remains an overriding priority. The EEC representative named a full-fledged digitalization, mutual recognition of bank guarantees by the Union countries and digital signature (DS) among the measures that will contribute to increasing the share of mutual participation in procurement activities.

The Commission has prepared a draft action plan for mutual recognition of the digital signature, which is scheduled to be adopted before year-end 2021. According to Arman Shakkaliev, its implementation will result in elaborating uniform rules for recognizing the DS and verifying its authenticity.

Besides the Minister has expressed the hope that the process of preparing draft Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Bank Guarantees will receive a boost involving the Ministries of Finance and central banks of the EAEU countries.

"Strong - together" is the motto that will help achieve synergy from creating a public procurement market accessible to the Union residents, operating according to general rules," the Minister said.

When it comes to joint work, Arman Shakkaliev named the Rules for Determining the Country of Origin of Certain Types of Goods for Public Procurement Purposes approved by the Commission’s Council as one of the Commission’s achievements according to the results of year 2020. They provide for production conditions for 263 types of goods in 10 manufacturing industries under which such goods shall be considered as originating from the EAEU State. The cooperative principle which promote creating cooperative chains between the Union States’ manufacturers within the EAEU is the most important element of the Rules.

"I am convinced that our joint measures in the field of public procurement create high-powered incentives for selling products manufactured in the Union States. It should be considered that about 50% of the goods in this market are imported from outside the Union. In the estimated data, this exceeds 60 bln dollars, in other words this is the potential that the EAEU countries’ manufacturers can use for their own development and growth," Arman Shakkaliev stressed.

Interaction between relevant departments is also required while digitalizing public procurement. The Minister has noted that the transfer of suppliers' qualifications to electronic format will significantly decrease the administrative burden on the business community and ensure the reliability and openness of the information provided. Along with that, according to some experts, the savings resulting from the transfer of public procurement procedures to electronic format shall be about 10-15% of the initial price.