The agreement on the creation of a free trade area between the Commonwealth of Independent States member states that was signed in Saint Petersburg in 2011 and ratified by the Parliament of Moldova on September 27, 2012 has taken effect. Head of the Economy Ministry’s Commercial Policies Division Inga Ionesii told a news conference that it is a multilateral agreement that aims to facilitate regional trade by improving the commercial relations between the signatory states, Info-Prim Neo reports. The agreement enables to maintain the zero customs duty on 10,000 groups of goods. “There are envisioned exceptions in the free trade regime. Such countries as Russia and Belarus asked maintaining the customs duties on the export of natural gas, raw material for the metals and wood industries, Kazakhstan – on the export of living animals and grain, while Ukraine and Moldova – on sugar. As it was agreed, these exceptions will be eliminated gradually, until 2016,” said Inga Ionesii. The agreement also stipulates mechanisms for solving disputes within the mechanism of the World Trade Organization, while for the CIS countries that are not yet members of the WTO the document contains a chapter with procedures for solving disputes, agreed by the sides Sergiu Harea, head of the Economic Development Division of the Chamber of Trade and Industry, said that the coming into force of the agreement on the creation of a free trade area between the CIS states is welcome, given the share of trade with these states. According to the Economy Ministry, trade between Moldova and the CIS countries in the first ten months of 2012 totaled US$2.6 billion, a slight increase compared with the correspond period last year. The share was 34.5% of the total exports of Moldova in 2012. The agreement has been ratified by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Moldova.