Commonwealth of Independent States Agreement on Free Trade in Services, Establishment, Operations and Investment

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The Agreement on Free Trade in Services, Establishment, Operations and Investment (Russian: Соглашение о свободной торговле услугами, учреждении, деятельности и осуществлении инвестиций) is an international agreement on the intention to create a free trade regime in services and investment signed by 7 post-Soviet states namely Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on 8 June 2023, at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Sochi, Russia^[1] to partly integrate Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on the common standards of the WTO (General Agreement on Trade in Services) and the EAEU (some provisions were borrowed from EAEU law) even without their membership in the WTO (Uzbekistan) or the EAEU (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan).

The parties to the agreement are guaranteed predictable and understandable conditions of access to the markets of financial, transport, construction, tourism, educational and other service sectors. The Commonwealth countries have been developing the document for 11 years. The Agreement is open for accession by other countries, and not only from the Commonwealth. The document will enter into force one month after its ratification with at least three member states. ^[2] The document pays special attention to financial services (banking, insurance services, securities-related services), since they are really the "blood of the economy", as well as telecommunications services.^[3] Like almost all other CIS agreements, the Agreement does not regulate relations with third countries and does not restrict the conclusion of other agreements.^[3] The Information and Analytical Department of the CIS Executive Committee notes in October 2023 that at the moment a kind of pyramid of integration entities has developed in the CIS countries, differing in the depth of economic integration (multi-speed integration), and the implementation of free trade agreements and a number of other documents will lead to the formation of a full-fledged common economic space within the Commonwealth. Within its participant countries, state borders will cease to be an obstacle to the free movement of goods, services, labor and capital.^[4] At the moment, there is a simplification of the movement of labor in the CIS countries, but complete freedom of movement without a work permit exists only in the EAEU.