On January, 16 – 19, 2012 Kazan (the Russian Federation) hosts the fourth round of consultations of the Joint Negotiating Delegation of the Customs Union and the European Free Trade Association on the draft of the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and the EFTA.

The representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labor, the State Customs Committee, the National Center for intellectual property of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Belarusian National Academy of Science participate in the meeting from the Belarusian side.

The agenda of the consultations includes a wide range of issues, including the terms of trade in industrial and agricultural goods, trade and customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade protection measures, trade in services and investment, public purchases, intellectual property rights, and also a number of issues connected with trade and sustainable development (labor standards, environmental problems).