EC Opens Route to a Free Trade Pact With Russia
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LUXEMBOURG — The European Community on Monday authorized negotiations that could lead eventually to a free trade accord with Russia.
The decision by the foreign ministers of the 12 EC nations was the latest Western effort to bolster President Boris N. Yeltsin’s domestic standing and boost Russia’s economy.
The European Community agreed to negotiate now on lowering import taxes on Russian goods and then work toward a free trade accord, although officials said that likely would not come until well into the next century.
The pact would give Russia similar trade terms to what the trade bloc offers the Baltic republics and some other former Communist states in Eastern Europe.
Officials said the decision does not apply to other former Soviet republics. Some of Russia’s neighbors, such as Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, have voiced concern that the community is concentrating too much on Moscow’s problems.
There also is resistance within the community to opening markets too wide to Russia for fear that the EC may be flooded with cheap imports.
Germany, Britain and Denmark pushed for the expanded trade talks over resistance from France and Spain.
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