Joint seminar organized by the Eurasian Economic Commission and the Food and Agricultural Organization
 
On 9 July the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) held a joint seminar in Moscow on the methodologies for calculating agricultural support measures in the member countries of the Customs Union including Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. 
Ms Liudmila Ivanovna Nizhevich, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of the Republic of Belarus has opened the seminar that was attended by experts from EEC, representatives from the OECD and FAO and an international expert on WTO issues.
Among EEC member countries the Russian Federation joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2012 while Belarus and Kazakhstan are observers of the organization. WTO member countries must limit domestic agricultural supports which requires the ability to measure them properly.  
The aim of the seminar was to share international practices to calculate agricultural support measures and discuss their application in EEC member countries. International experts gave presentation on calculation methods used in the WTO and OECD countries while experts from the EEC member countries presented the main features of their domestic agricultural policy measures. After the presentations participants discussed how international calculation methodologies could be applied in EEC member countries. 
This was the first seminar between the EEC and FAO on policy issues for integration of agricultural markets in the Customs Union. A second seminar is under preparation and will take place in the second half of the year.