Council on Mutual Economic Assistance

Council on Mutual Economic Assistance (CEMA, CMEA or COMECON) in relation with International Trade

In the context of trade organizations, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following definition of Council on Mutual Economic Assistance (CEMA, CMEA or COMECON): Formed in 1949, CEMA was a Soviet-Ied economic community of Communist nations. Members included the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Cuba. CEMA trade patterns were based on long-term state agreements –primarily involving barter exchanges of East European industrial and consumer products for Soviet energy and raw materials –that fixed prices far in advance and recorded payments in nonconvertible transferable rubles. CEMA members decided in March 1991 to disband the organization.