Free the protocol of october 18, 2005) after

FREE TRADEAGREEMENT BETWEEN UKRAINE AND REPUBLIC OF BELARUS (With amendments andadditions introduced by the Protocol of October 18, 2005)After thebreakup of Soviet Union in 1991, the map of Europe drastically changed. Fifteennew independent countries were created and despite of their independence, theywere still bound together by strong economic, political and social ties. Theaim of all the countries was to develop homeland economy and to change themarket type from planned to free market economy the countries mostly relied on otherex-Soviet countries. At the time was established and the fact that Ukraine didnot join the organization as a full member, the country mostly relied on bilateralagreements with ex-Soviet republics than on joining CIS and later Eurasian CustomsUnion. Theagreement was signed on December 17th, 1992, roughly a year after the breakupof Soviet Union and ratified only on March 19th, 1999.

This document is basedon the Treaty between the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and theUkrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was signed in 1990. The goal of theFree Trade Agreement is “ to develop tradeand economic cooperation… on the basis of… mutual benefit”. The goal establishedby the sovereign states was based on their right to pursue economic freedom andindependence. The goal was also compliant with the rules of the World Trade Organization(WTO) as Ukraine being a full member of the WTO and Belarus being an observer. As thisagreement is still in power and being one of the main regulation medium onregulating trade and economic relations between countries, I believe that thereare reasons and grounds to analyze the agreement. There were used Ukrainianoriginal text of this agreement, which was originally published in Ukrainian, Belorussian and Russian languages, alongside with English translation of thisdocument to provide meaningfulness and compliance with the economic notions inthis analysis. In theArticle 1 stated that countries are abolishing custom fees and other taxes forexport and import on goods which are produced in one of the countries while imported/exportedto the other, but exclusions can apply to this if necessary.

The term of “ commoditiesoriginating from the… state” was also later amended in November, 2000, tocomply with the policies of the Commonwealth of Independent states (CIS), asBelarus is a member of the organization. The parties also signed undernon-discriminating paragraphs. These include not imposing any additionalcharges on imported/exported goods, which were discussed in the Article 1, inaddition establishing non-discriminating policies, where taxes cannot be higherthan those for domestic goods or goods produces in third party countries.