Message from Editor-in-Chief
Dear readers, we are glad to present the second English edition of our «Trade Policy» journal.

The first Russian edition of the journal was published at the beginning of 2015. Within this comparatively short span of three years our journal has succeeded in becoming the major special-purpose source covering timely issues rising around regulation of international trade, investment, foreign economic cooperation, etc. The value of the edition is largely due to the contribution produced by its authors from academic, business and expert backgrounds along with officials of Russian government and Eurasian Economic Commission and our foreign colleagues.
As far as central topics discussed in our journal are concerned, the following could be listed: trade policy in theoretical coverage and multilateral regulation; mechanisms of trade policy and implementation experience; issues of global scope and world trade regulation; evaluations of trade policy provided by the leading experts,
government and international officials; reviews and analytical papers on contemporary issues and events around trade policy; reports from conferences, seminar and other events dedicated to international trade policy.
The journal is published by the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE). The editorial office operates within the HSE Trade Policy Institute. We publish the journal in cooperation with colleagues of International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva. We are very thankful to our foreign colleagues for their help and cooperation.

From our perspective, trade policy constitutes one of the core foundations of any government politics within the international economic relations framework. Along with establishing the essential environment allowing participation of a certain state in division of various resources, it also assigns to countries their roles in international trade in goods and services within the world market.
We hope that the English edition of our journal would not only be interesting and useful for readers abroad but also for those in Russia and CIS countries. It aims to improve mutual understanding among experts, officials, scholars and businessmen who specialize in international trade and trade policy. We hope that our Rnglish edition would provide more opportunities for both authors from Russia and the EAEU countries to present their views to foreign English speaking readers, and also for our foreign authors to address their colleagues in Russia and CIS countries directly.
In this English edition we are glad to present articles of our authors from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. The main general topics are development of trade of the EAEU countries, integration process within the EAEU, and economic development and trade of some countries which are important trade partners for Russia. Furthermore, the topic of application and effects of trade policy instruments is presented in this issue as a traditional element of the journal.
The article «Free Trade in Services and EAEU Single Services Market: Current State and Opportunities» deals with trade in services regimes within EAEU single services market. The authors outline the key factors the countries should follow when liberalizing the trade. The basic concepts of National treatment and most favored nation treatment are observed in the context of the EAEU market specifics. Also, the paper provides distinctive features of some specific service markets and outlines the special aspects of regulation. Hence, the work facilitates a deep understanding of the service trade within the union. There are important agreements mentioned, as well as results achieved so far. The idea of creation the single market for service trade is rather ambitious. The authors point out that there is still much work to do. However, due to the youth of the organization these obstacles are natural.
The paper «Trade Integration in Services in the Eurasian Economic Union: Between Myth and Reality» describes the trade environment within EAEU. The union is supposed to eliminate excessive hindrances in services trade, but much is dependent on the proper work of its institutions. The author describes the current
state of trade liberalization within the union and comes up with a conclusion that currently there is a moderate slowdown in the liberalization process. On the other hand, service trade liberalization requires a major change in legislation and overall economic environment. The work refers to the EAEU treaty and provides a deep analysis based on the legal side of the question. There are member states observed in a way of how they adapt the rules. Unfortunately, much is being remained in elimination of the trade barriers within the countries. In fact, cooperation of the member states in service trade remain considerably low. The paper covers the xisting limitations. The EAEU observes national economies as a single market, therefore there should be some simplifications in capital movement. However, some important steps have already been taken.

As for another article, namely «Imperatives of Business Regulation Development in Global Economy», the author describes and analyzes the evolution of regulation tools implicated by the government, taking into consideration changes in technological orders and new industrial revolutions. Our colleague comes to the conclusion that ensuring entrepreneurial activities freedom as well as well-established and guarded property rights under the condition of normal competition level remain being the main regulation imperatives since the first industrial revolution.Current trends such as significantly increased role of SMEs and investment
in the economy digitalization are also highlighted in the paper.
The article «Conditions for Access of Kazakhstani Goods to Foreign Markets» covers the topical issue for Kazakhstani economy, namely trade policy. The country experiences an inner need to develop the right strategy and to adapt the WTO terms. More extensive trade involvement is believed to help the country overcome its resource orientation. Contemporary innovative programs emphasize the need of economic diversification and securing an overall trend of transferring to service-technology economy. Also, it is necessary to develop the trade with high added value goods. The article examines the current level of Kazakh goods competitiveness and proposes changes, as well as outlines products with competitive advantage potential. Moreover, the study observes the conditions for global market access. It describes the measures
of other major economies that might be considered as «protectionist». The authors give recommendations on how the trade situation can be changed in order to be beneficial for Kazakhstan.
Next paper is called «Trade and Economic Relations of China with East Africa». The research deals with the relations between China and countries of East Africa such as Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan. Each of the parties has a mutual interest. China represents a key partner for the abovementioned countries. On the other hand, China is interested in the mineral resources of the region. The paper observes the historical roots of cooperation between China and East Africa and traces the spheres of common interest. The cooperation
between the PRC and African countries has been going through the process of gradual advancement. Started as a pure economic cooperation it led to some Chinese investments in infrastructure and social facilities and transport infrastructure in Africa. This describes the overall interest of China to secure stable positions in the region. China has different levels of cooperation with particular countries mentioned, however, in some of them it takes part in solving political issues. Therefore, the influence is not just economic. China is turning this region into sphere of its interests.

In the article «Formation of Interregional Trade Agreements: What Factors Induce Trade Blocs to Cooperate?» our colleague investigates motives for establishment and proliferation of trade agreements across regions. The author conducts the analysis based on bargaining theory focusing on such regional integration determinants as trade gains, depth of integration within a bloc, development levels, membership in the WTO and its disputes framework. Backing on the theoretical concept the author builds a logistic regression for assessing the impact of the mentioned factors on interregional trade agreements. The results obtained
indicate that market access conditions, the quality of integration process and membership in the WTO seem to influence positively and outline the possibility of trade cooperation strengthening between two blocs, while participation in the WTO disputes is likely to have a negative effect on that cooperation.
Last but not least, «EAEU and Silk Road Economic Belt: Is It Really a «Win-Win» Cooperation? The Case of Central Asia». The author comes up with the examination of the Central Asia opportunities and prospects in the context of China’s Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) launch. Being declared as not only a logistical initiative to deliver Chinese goods to Europe, but also as a development project backing Central Asian countries, SREB is seen as a «win-win» cooperation for all countries participating in it. She comes to the conclusion that a «win-win» situation achievement is rather possible if the interests of all actors are taken into consideration. Finally, the author proposes that better logistics conditions creation in Central Asia, Siberia, the Urals, the new production development and logistics niches with China as well as attracting investment in cross-border transport and transport-logistics infrastructure projects seem to be the main goals for the EAEU countries in the framework of cooperation with China on the SREB initiative.
The editors hope that our readers of these publications will find them useful and involving, resulting in larger audience interested in the editions. We highlight that we are happy to welcome our readers as contributors to the journal development and their colleagues to become familiar with various ideas and perspectives under consideration.
                                                                                                                                                                      M. Medvedkov