Κυριακή 4 Ιανουαρίου 2015

Eurasian Union born, two new members expected

Kyrgyzstan took another step toward joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) 22 December when the government and parliament ratified a draft treaty on membership, Xinhua reports.

Atambaev_100Almazbek Atambaev
President Almazbek Atambaev is due to sign an agreement on EEU entry in Moscow today. In an interview with Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, he said joining the union was necessary if his country is to develop a “normal” economy, 24.kg reports.
“If we want to develop, to get away from the re-export of goods from the speculative economy and build a normal [economy] based on manufacturing, services, we need to have no borders with some of the biggest markets, at least economic,” he said.

The EEU will be formally inaugurated 1 January when it becomes the successor to the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus customs union formed in 2010.

After his election in 2011, Atambaev said integration with the Russia-led customs union was a painful necessity, severely impacting Kyrgyzstani wholesale markets that thrive on the re-export of Chinese-made goods but forcing the development of domestic industries.

Speaking on 22 December as EEU leaders and aspirants assembled for a summit in Moscow, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov described the union as the biggest association in the “post-Soviet space,” with a consumer market of more than 170 million people, according to TASS. He said the EEU “will be guided by the norms and principles of the World Trade Organization and will ensure free movement of goods, services, capitals and labor force.”

Kyrgyzstan is expected to become a union member on 1 May. Armenia’s membership will take effect on 2 January, TASS writes.

The EEU is nothing like the Soviet Union, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev said 21 December during his annual year-end news conference, according to Tengri News. He called the agreement to form the union the most significant event of the year for Kazakhstan and took credit for putting forward the idea of a post-Soviet economic space 20 years ago.

“There have been many rumors of Kazakhstan reportedly losing its independence, about the USSR allegedly being revived. Complete nonsense. Those willing to get the USSR revived are not in their right mind. We have gone a long way away from that,” Nazarbaev said.

source: TOL