Belarus will not support a proposal to extend the terms of the current mechanism for distribution of import customs duties in the Eurasian Economic Union, President Alexander Lukashenko said.

“The issue related to the distribution of import customs duties remains on the agenda. This topic was discussed in detail at the Supreme Council in Sochi on 14 May. The heads of state agreed that the finance ministers will be working on the method of distributing duties until December 2018 and report on the results. The proposal to re-extend the existing mechanism is absolutely unprofitable for Belarus. We have repeatedly said this. Of course, as my government informs me, we cannot support it,” BelTa agency quotes Alexander Lukashenko. 

As TASS reported earlier, the protocol to amend the agreement on the accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, signed in Moscow on 11 April 2017, specifies the mechanism for distribution of import customs duties for each member state of the union. They have been set in the following amounts: 1.22% for Armenia, 4.56% for Belarus, 7.055% for Kazakhstan, 1.9% for Kyrgyzstan, and 85.265% for Russia. 

Another protocol, signed in Sochi on 14 May 2018, extended the period of the application of the existing mechanism for distribution of import customs duties through 31 December 2019.