Russia: Eurasian Economic Union One Year On
Key events of the first year since the launch of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) included its expansion to welcome two new members, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, a free trade agreement with Vietnam, which is pending ratification, and Kazakhstan’s accession to the World Trade Organization. Additionally, the structure of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the EAEU permanent body, was changed to reflect the EAEU expansion coinciding with the first rotation at the EEC’s executive body, the EEC Collegium, on February 1, 2016. None of these events had any immediate effect on agricultural trade, which was much more affected by external economic and political factors in 2015 unrelated to the EAEU developments.
