President Putin: Russia supports the establishment of an Asia-Pacific free trade area

In an article for APEC media, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia supports the idea of ​​forming a Free Trade Area of ​​the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

Photo: Sputnik

President Putin said that Russia sees in this practical benefits and opportunities to strengthen its position in dynamically developing markets in the Asia-Pacific region. He stressed that over the past five years, the share of APEC economies in Russia's foreign trade increased from 23% to 31%, while exports increased from 17% to 24%. And Russia has no intention of stopping at the level it has achieved.

The Russian President also stated that the project to establish a large-scale free trade area such as FTAAP needs to be implemented on the basis of drawing lessons and experiences from existing Asia-Pacific and Eurasian regional integration frameworks, including the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in which Russia cooperates with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

The alliance is developing dynamically and Russia is ready to build relations with all interested countries and alliances. President Putin added that Vietnam, the host of APEC 2017, became the first country to sign a free trade agreement with the EAEU. As a result, bilateral trade turnover has increased significantly.

Titled "25th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang: Together for Prosperity and Harmony," the article also emphasized that establishing effective cooperation to support innovation is the most important task in this dynamic era.

The Russian President also proposed to initiate consultations among APEC member economies on international information security and protection of computer software.

These topics are expected to be discussed comprehensively at the upcoming summit.

According to Sputnik