Foreign airplanes and spare parts bought by Belarus and Kazakhstan will be exempt from import duties until July 1, 2014, the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus Customs Union said on Monday.
The unified customs tariff was designed to support domestic aircraft manufacturers, but neither Kazakhstan nor Belarus manufactures aircraft or related equipment.
The exemptions will apply to civilian airliners imported into Belarus and Kazakhstan before July 1, 2014 to be used on domestic and international routes.
However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been skeptical about the future of the Customs Union saying so far he could see no benefit from it for his country and that it would eventually collapse because "Russia does not really need it."
He suggested that Moscow had initiated the Customs Union just to irk her opponents. Lukashenko said there is plenty of oil and gas around in the world and Belarus has no need "to go begging from Russia".
MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti)
