On 28 May in Astana, EEC Minister for Trade Andrey Slepnev moderated the forum session “Digital Trade in the EAEU: Prospects, Approaches and Tools” and said proven digital practices should be rolled out across the entire Union. Source: Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
In his view, digital transformation of trade is already irreversible, and its effectiveness directly affects the competitiveness of companies and states, transaction speed, costs and the quality of turnover.
As a benchmark he cited fully paperless document exchange in Russia–Belarus mutual trade: tens of thousands of transactions involving businesses and tax authorities. Progress in digitising customs procedures was highlighted separately.
Participants discussed electronic document flow, smart contracts, a registry of the EAEU states’ digital solutions and ethics of AI use. At a related session on digital marking, speakers addressed combating illegal circulation, marking in e-commerce and preventing labels on products that fail to meet technical regulations.
Slepnev cited marking impact estimates for Russia: about RUB 1.2 trillion in 2024 and a forecast of RUB 1.7 trillion for 2025, higher budget revenue, market formalisation and large data sets for flow management. The system, he said, is moving towards monitoring legal circulation — including against grey imports and fictitious production — linked to technical regulation; corresponding tasks have been set for the Commission.
