Countries that are included in the EU’s Eastern Partnership program are going to sign an agreement on the harmonization on roaming rates, Belarusian minister of communications and informatization Sergei Popkov said, 112.ua reports.

Such was the decision made on Thursday in Minsk during the informal negotiations between ministers of the Eastern Partnership governments.

“Today we came to the decision that by the end of this year we will have a roadmap for the countries of the Eastern Partnership, and by the end of 2022 we will sign an agreement on the harmonization of prices on roaming services in our countries”, Popkov said.

The minister also pointed out that the European Union worked on the issue of free-roaming services for 10 years. “Obviously, we cannot say it will happen tomorrow and everything will become cheaper overnight. What we are saying is that we are going to gradually reduce the roaming rates to nationwide rates within a country” he explained.

According to the official, it is going to be crucial to find a balance between the interests of mobile carriers on the one hand, in order for them to grow and invest in new technologies, and the public interest on the other hand.

The Eastern Partnership is a joint initiative that unites EU member states and six countries that were in the Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

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