The Government of the Russian Federation has submitted to the State Duma for ratification the CIS Agreement on Free Trade in Services and Investments. The agreement was signed in June 2023.

"The agreement creates uniform rules for all participants. The main one is non–discrimination of service providers and investors when they establish companies and branches, obtain permits and licenses for the supply of services. Guarantees are also provided to protect investors from illegal seizure of their property," explained Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

In terms of services and investments, the Agreement actually includes Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the preferential orbit of the EAEU. As the Minister recalled, the Union already has preferential treatment for services and investments on the basis of the EAEU Treaty.

In the industrial and agricultural sectors, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan guarantee Russian investors that conditions will not worsen. That is, if new restrictions are imposed on foreign investments, they will not apply to Russian companies. For particularly sensitive sectors, the parties make exceptions to this rule. In accordance with the agreement, Uzbekistan, which is not a WTO member, provides guarantees of access to the services market at the level of WTO standards, which will contribute to the growth of bilateral trade in services.

The agreement will stimulate the growth of mutual investments, the development of industrial relations, and the formation of new value chains. It will also contribute to the expansion of commodity trade. By 2025, it is expected to grow with the participating countries by 22% compared to 2023. For reference, the Parties to the Agreement are the EAEU countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia), as well as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

At the moment, the Agreement has already been ratified by Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. In other countries, domestic procedures are being carried out.

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Support for entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses in the Yaroslavl region is carried out within the framework of the national projects "Labor Productivity", "Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative", as well as "International cooperation and Export".