The heads of government of the Customs Union (CU) have agreed to withdraw about 300 restrictions and barriers.

Yesterday in Astana the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the level of Heads of Government was held. The event was attended by Serik Akhmetov, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Dmitry Medvedev, the Prime Minister of Russia, Mikhail Myasnikovich, the Prime Minister of Belarus and as observers – Prime Ministers of: Ukraine – Mykola Azarov and Kyrgyzstan – Jantoro Satybaldyev.

During the meetings in private and expanded list, the most pressing issues and prospects for further development of CU and the Common Economic Space, formation of the Eurasian Economic Union were considered. At the end of the meetings, Serik Akhmetov, the Prime Ministerof the RoK and Viktor Khristenko, Chairman of the Board of EEC held a briefing for the media.

The head of the Kazakh government told the news to the media that the contentious issues related to the import of certain products from third countries have been resolved.

“An important outcome of this meeting was the signing solutions to some issues related to the import of civilian aircraft and combine harvesters and their modules imported into the common customs territory. This document will help our three countries to actively develop such sectors as air transport, agriculture and industrial sectors”, Serik Akhmetov said.

In addition, the Heads of Government endorsed the results of the application of the mechanism of enrollment and distribution of customs duties in 2011 and 2012.

“Co- operation in these areas is a clear indication of the high level of integration between the two countries, the commitment of our states to make effective use of the power of partnership,” S. Akhmetov said.

We are satisfied with the results of today’s meeting and intend to continue prudent policies to strengthen the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space,” the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan concluded.

A question of removing barriers and restrictions in mutual trade between the countries – participants of the CU was discussed by Boris Khristenko.

“The most important track on which currently experts are working is preparation of the agreement on the functioning of the Single Economic Space (from 1 January 2015), without exceptions and limitations. At present one has identified about 600 of such exceptions and limitations. Now we are working to determine the time and format of eliminating of a half of them,” the chairman of the board of EEC explained.

He noted that the removal of restrictions and barriers is extremely important for all three countries.

“Because it is not just a tribute to economic freedom, but also the source for the growth of our economies. In this regard, I think that we are quite confident and will move together to prepare a report to the presidents at the upcoming summit in Minsk on development of the integration process ,” he added.

Viktor Khristenko, in his speech after the meeting also noted that the single market of CU is the driver for the growth of the economies of all three countries – Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, despite the ongoing global crisis .

“Mutual trade between our three countries has grown over 7 months by 3.6 %. This is, perhaps, a little bit, but if you compare to how non-commodity exports in a third country has changed, so it fell by 8.6 %. This suggests that the single internal market in a substantial part is not just a source of growth, but the growth for the manufacturing sector, which is extremely important for the economies of our countries,” Viktor Khristenko said.

It should be noted that during the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council the opportunity to submit proposals to heads of governments of Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine, who are, for the moment, in the status of observers was given.

Yesterday, Serik Akhmetov, the Prime Minister had a meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian Prime Minister, Zhantoro Satybaldiev, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.

During the negotiations with his Russian counterpart, S. Akhmetov noted that we can observe “intensity of the interaction between the two countries on topical issues of the Kazakh- Russian relations, and prompt resolution of issues under CU.”

D. Medvedev also noted the successful and dynamic development of bilateral ties.

“Relations between Kazakhstan and Russia are developing successfully and dynamically,” the head of the Government of the Russian Federation said.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views on a wide range of topical issues of trade and economic cooperation. In particular, they discussed the progress in the implementation of joint projects in the field of transport and energy. They also discussed urgent issues of interaction in the CU.

At a meeting with the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Zhantoro Satybaldiev issues of further strengthening of the Kazakh – Kyrgyz bilateral relations in trade, economic and investment relations , transit and transport sector , water and energy, the fuel sector , cross-border cooperation were discussed.

“Based on results 2012 the volume of trade and economic turnover exceeded one bilious dollars,” S. Akhmetov said. He noted the great potential for further growth of bilateral trade.

In turn, J. Satybaldyev called for an active partnership building “having a great opportunity for the successful implementation of intergovernmental agreements.”

In the afternoon, Serik Akhmetov, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan had a meeting with the heads of government of Belarus – Mikhail Myasnikovich, Ukraine – Mykola Azarov.

In negotiations with Mikhail Myasnikovich, the Prime Minister of Belarus he discussed issues of expansion of bilateral cooperation in trade, economic and investment spheres. The parties also discussed issues of cooperation in the framework of the Customs Union and Common Economic Space. During the meeting with Nikolai Azarov, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, attention was paid to the development of key areas of trade and economic relations. Heads of Government noted the need to revitalize the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation.

Kulpash KONYROVA,
Sergey OBOLENSKIY

Source: Kazpravda.kz