Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area

Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area (CISFTA) is a free trade area between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Five CISFTA participants, all except Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Moldova are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, comprising a single economic market.

The Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Zone Agreement, proposed since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, was signed on 18 October 2011 by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Moldova and Armenia. The agreement replaced existing bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements between the countries. Although ex-Soviet states, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have not signed the agreement. Initially, the treaty was only ratified by Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia and Kazakhstan, however in December 2013 Uzbekistan signed and then ratified the treaty. Kyrgyzstan has ratified the treaty with effect from 12 January 2014, while Tajikistan was reported in 2014 to be close to completing the ratification process.