At its cabinet session Friday, the government of Armenia approved the ratification of the economic partnership agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The purpose of this agreement, signed on June 27 in Minsk, Belarus, is to liberalize and simplify trade between the two aforesaid parties, including through reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as to encourage the expansion of trade between them.

In addition, for the purpose of ensuring the most-favored procedure, the agreement provides for compliance with World Trade Organization norms when applying protective measures in overall trade.

Also, the agreement pays special attention to cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises.

The draft states that as a result of concluding the agreement, the EAEU member states — including Armenia — will receive preferential access conditions covering 86% of the product nomenclature, whose export coverage to the UAE amounts to 98% for the EAEU.

Under this agreement, Armenia’s preferential export coverage to the UAE will amount to 95% of current exports.