This was stated by Maksim Yermalovich, Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, during his speech at the “Russia – UAE” Business Dialogue held as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
“Multilateral formats of interaction for international trade are not working well under the current circumstances. We should build our own architecture of cooperation without destroying the existing foundation of trade agreements,” the EEC Minister highlighted.
Maksim Yermalovich has drawn attention to the fact that the Eurasian Economic Union's market is quite substantial in terms of its volume: today, the EAEU countries' foreign trade amounts to approximately 800 bln dollars. Thus, the development of trade agreements with partner countries and the inclusion of an extended list of mutual obligations in these agreements will lay the groundwork for further interaction.
“If trade turnover between the EAEU and the UAE was about 14 bln dollars in 2024, then in 2025 we added another two bln. And the trade agreement we signed last year should significantly intensify this process. Meanwhile, it contains a wide range of new provisions, which provides greater freedom in reaching arrangements,“ Maksim Yermalovich told.
The United Arab Emirates was represented at the session by Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and Tourism, Mohammed Ahmed Al Jaber, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the UAE to the Russian Federation, and the business community representatives.
