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Ruslan Tatikov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic, noted that the jewelry industry was one of the Union’s important sectors.

"The EAEU countries are among the global leaders in gold mining, which annually amounts to about 400 tons. Russia mines the most - about 300 tons, followed by Kazakhstan - about 60-65 tons. When it comes to Kyrgyzstan, we mine about 20-25 tons", the Deputy Minister specified.

He noted that Kyrgyzstan was proactive in solving the jewelry industry’s problems.

"We joined the Kimberley Process last year. This gives us great opportunities to break into a world market within the EAEU... We have great possibilities in this respect, and we are ready to work through joint efforts", Ruslan Tatikov added.

Yulia Goncharenko, Director of the Department of State Regulation in the Sphere of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, noted the importance of digitization, including the development of "digital technologies" in the jewelry industry.

In this regard, she reminded that the Russian side, jointly with its Belarusian partners and the DIF EDB, addressed the initiative to create an electronic digital platform for trade in jewelry.

"We see the prospect of integration processes, but it should be noted that this should be a common interest, we should make joint efforts to create the jewelry market", Yulia Goncharenko said.

Yury Zubarev, Head of the Federal Assay Chamber of the Russian Federation, proposed using the mechanism of the national assay chamber to confirm that the products were manufactured in the EAEU countries for its further branding and marking.

Ivan Stepanenko, Head of the Precious Metals and Gemstones Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus, informed the session attendees on the country's work in the jewelry industry. According to him, nowadays Belarus executes a pilot project on jewelry marking started in the same period as in Russia, with which Belarus began to "seek ways to integrate information systems" to obtain information by authorized authorities about the jewelry movement in the EAEU.

"We want to achieve such market transparency that counterfeit products could not simply enter it", Ivan Stepanenko stressed.

Viktor Gridnev, Director of the Directorate of the Digital Initiatives Fund of the Eurasian Development Bank, informed on current consideration of the issue of organizing the jewelry export to third countries at the request of jewelry associations in the Eurasian space.

"Nowadays we actively discuss the generation of digital solutions that will help us in marketing our jewelers’ products abroad. The products are competitive, they are in demand. Our objective is to build a set of processes enabling to organize this export, adequately present it on the external circuit and ensure a working mechanism", Viktor Gridnev noted.

Gagik Mkrtchyan, Acting Chairman of the Eurasian Jewelry Export Bureau, said that the tasks facing the Eurasian Jewelry Export Bureau had a somewhat different focus in light of economic sanctions.

If earlier the main objective was to promote the growth of exports to the USA and EU markets, then, according to Gagik Mkrtchyan, the current realities require adjustments to export targets.

"We managed to make meaningful headway in the import substitution of jewelry in the EAEU space. Today we can manufacture products we used to import, and we manufacture many things even better than our foreign partners. Besides, the above export target markets are now replaced by such markets as China, the UAE, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, etc.", Gagik Mkrtchyan noted.

Dina Nasyrova, Director of the IlgizF brand and Vice-President of the International Jewelry Exhibition J-1, broached the subject of training specialists in the jewelry industry, which has a meaningful effect on developing the industry.

Sergey Shklyaev, Head of the Department for Trade Restrictions, Currency and Export Control of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, informed that a new state information system GIS-DNDK was started to simplify some procedures in the jewelry industry.

"This will minimize costs associated with the need to provide original documents to the customs authorities. At present we are ready to work in digital format. Your objective is to ensure downloading and receiving these documents from a governing body in electronic form. Then we work, our information system works", Sergey Shklyaev summed up.

The panel session was moderated by Olga Tarasevich, Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Belarus, and Antonina Babosyuk, Vice-President of the Altyn Jewelry Holding.

Information Support Section of the EEC Organizational Support and Protocol Department