Agreements on free trade in services and investment

Agreements on free trade in services and investment

With the deepening of the internationalization and globalization processes, the areas covered by these processes have expanded, including the service sector. The result was the acceleration in the growth of international trade in services, as well as the need to undertake measures for trade in services liberalization.

However, trade in services liberalization, in contrast to trade in goods, is carried out not by lowering customs tariff barriers, but by “binding” a certain level of national regulation of trade in services and investor activity.

The form of realization of the trade in services liberalization process is the conclusion by states of agreements on free trade in services, which are a kind of regional trade agreements (RTAs), and their performance corresponds to Article V of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

One of the first preferential agreement in the service sector for the Republic of Belarus was the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (Section XV ”Trade in Services, Establishment, Activities and Investment“ and the Protocol on Trade in Services, Establishment, Activities and Investment (Appendix No. 16 to the Treaty on the EAEU). Additionally, Belarus also takes part in the development of the legal framework for services within the Commonwealth of Independent States and concludes bilateral agreements on services and investments with individual states.

The Republic of Belarus, like all Members of the Union, retains autonomy (i.e., national competence) in matters of concluding agreements on free trade in services and investments. The process of concluding such agreements with third countries is carried out independently of the partners in the Union. The only condition prescribed in the Treaty on the EAEU is the obligation of the Republic of Belarus to provide to the Member States of the EAEU the same concessions, which are granted to the partner (partners) under that agreement (Article 38 of the Treaty and section 6 of Annex No. 16
to the Treaty).

In this respect, currently the several steps are taken to conclude new preferential service agreements. The coordination of work on the preparation of international agreements in the field of trade in services is carried out by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus.

Since November 2012, work on the Agreement on free trade in services, establishment, operation and investments has been underway within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Agreement was signed at the Heads of Government Council in Sochi on June 8, 2023, and ratified by Law No. 325-Z of the Republic of Belarus dated December 28, 2023. For the Republic of Belarus, the Agreement entered into force on June 5, 2024.

On December 14, 2020, the Joint Statement between Belarus and China was signed, which began the negotiations on concluding an agreement on free trade in services and investment. In April 2021, the parties approved the Statement of work for the negotiations, that defines approaches to the architecture of the agreement, its content and procedural aspects of the negotiation process. In 2023, negotiations on the draft Agreement on trade in services and investment between Belarus and China were completed. The Agreement was signed on August 22, 2024, during the official visit of Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang to the Republic of Belarus. In 2025, the Agreement was ratified and on January 1, 2026, it was entered into force.

Since 2017, negotiations on a service-investment agreement with Singapore have been underway, however the negotiations are currently suspended.

Since 2020, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus, along with the concerned authorities, has been working on the conclusion of an agreement on free trade in services with Turkey (without an investment chapter). Following the signing of the Statement of work on June 10, 2020, several rounds of negotiations were held, which were effectively resumed in 2024.

In 2022, negotiations began on the conclusion of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Belarus and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on trade in services and investment, which were completed with the signing of the document on June 27, 2025, in Minsk. The Agreement was ratified by the Republic of Belarus the in December 2025.

The conclusion of service agreements allows the Republic of Belarus to remove obstacles to Belarusian exports of services to foreign markets, increase the turnover of cross-border trade in services with partners under agreements, signal the potential investors about the Belarusian economy specific sectors access conditions, thereby facilitating the FDI inflow, stimulating the development of trade and economic cooperation with these countries through the creation of a transparent and predictable environment.

At the same time, the Ministry of Economy continues analysis to identify promising partners for concluding service-investment agreements in the medium term. If there are any obstacles to access to foreign markets for services and investments, or there is an interest in obtaining preferential conditions for access, please submit your proposals (trade@economy.gov.by).