Excerpt from the transcript:
Alexei Overchuk: This year’s fourth Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting chaired by heads of government from our five countries ended in Yerevan today.
One of the main issues that were considered during the meeting was financial support for industrial cooperation projects to promote the development of high-tech industries in the member states of the union.
We have in fact reached an agreement where the anti-dumping duties which are levied in the union will be used as a source of funding. Approximately 10 percent of these fees will be used for financing, in fact, subsidising the interest rate in such cooperation projects.
An understanding was also achieved that at least three member states of the union should participate in any cooperation project, so that even small economies that are members of the union are guaranteed access to advanced technologies and take part in developing them. In this way, we will improve the general level of industry and manufacturing in all member states of the union.
In addition, agreements were reached on levying VAT on goods that are sold through electronic platforms in the member states of the union. In fact, this agreement concerns bringing the laws of the union in line with the generally accepted international practice whereby goods are taxed in the country where they are consumed.
This means that if, for example, an electronic platform located in Kazakhstan is selling goods to a Russian consumer, the VAT will be levied in Russia. Thus, we exclude double taxation when trading through electronic platforms, which is important.
We also agreed that this system will be supported by a dedicated analytical information system which will make it possible to track these transactions and avoid levying VAT taxes twice.
The topic of forming a common gas market was also widely discussed. We have reiterated that the path chosen by our countries – the conclusion of long-term gas contracts – allows our countries to feel comfortable today and achieve a balance of interests between gas consumers and gas producers.
Also, we are continuing consultations to accommodate the text of the agreement on the EAEU member states’ common gas market, as well as consultations on the text of an agreement on a common market for oil and refined products in the EAEU member states, and we hope we will eventually sign it, but we need more consultations.
