MINSK, 1 March (BelTA) – The third meeting of the joint panel of the customs services of the Customs Union member states will take place in Vitebsk on 15-16 March, Deputy Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Belarus Sergei Borisyuk said at the meeting of the House of Representatives’ permanent commission for international affairs and relations with the CIS on 1 March.
In his words, the agreement on the joint panel was signed by the three countries in Moscow on 22 June 2011. The agreement is temporarily in force, pending ratification.
The official added that the chairman of the joint panel as well as his deputy would be elected annually. The panel might decide on the prolongation of the term. Meetings are to be convened at least once in three months. Sergei Borisyuk noted that the joint customs panel of Belarus and Russia has been active for a long time as part of the Union State. “Now we need to work in the troika format,” he explained.
Organization and information support for the joint panel will be provided by the secretariat. Its functions have been vested with the Federal Customs Service of Russia.
For his part, the chairman of the permanent commission for international affairs and relations with the CIS Vitaly Busko noted that heads of the customs services will be elected to the post of Chairman of the joint panel and decisions will be taken only by consensus. Each party will have only one vote, regardless of the State he represents. In addition, Vitaly Busko commented on the request of Kyrgyzstan to join the Customs Union: “I think that this issue will be closely examined in the near future.”
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