Strategy for the Future of the Eurasian Economic Union
KEY CONCLUSIONS
EEU membership being tangibly beneficial for economies
“Integration is good for everyone: both larger and smaller economies. Integration is about free flow of capital, workforce, services, and goods. All member states, including Russia, benefit from that. Our goal is to further expand all these good sides of integration,” Anton Siluanov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.
“Integration is very important for our economies, and for Kazakhstan in particular, because it helps us create additional growth potential. Therefore, issues of Eurasian economic perspective are very relevant,” Alikhan Smailov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“Joining the Eurasian Economic Union provided Kyrgyzstan with opportunities regarding workforce, capital and other economic processes,” Zhenish Razakov, Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic.
PROBLEMS
Bureaucratic and administrative barriers
“The formal part of decision-making takes, at least, a year, because everything in our union treaty is regulated, and we have to go through all those procedures. If we receive a comment from the expert level, we will waste, at least, two months, because we must stick to all formal procedures,” Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
Insufficient degree of integration
“Insufficient integration is very bad, first and foremost, for our business. Business always emphasizes that building common markets is always associated with problems and limitations. This prevents us from feeling all the effects of integration,” Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
“Working out coordinated, shared, or better unified policies in the most important areas of economy – that is about insufficient integration. It is impossible to lift all barriers and limitations without it. It will be impossible to increase competitiveness in global markets without entering coordinated, common, or unified policies, especially in a digital environment,” Viktor Khristenko, President, Business Council, Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Protectionism is harmful to integration processes
“When governments protect national interests – it is protection of their manufacturers, their enterprises. We are not ready for free competition in our common market. National governments are always trying to help their manufacturers and introduce limitations that break the rules of forming our common market,” Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
“As for extending participation and free trade zone, we see here that our national interests are a great deal more important than integration interests. Let us take into account interests of our Union. We should match them against the interests of the country, but once we have entered integration, we have to compromise, make concessions to each other,” Anton Siluanov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.
“According to many experts we are mainly focused on internal competition between our countries, and what we are basically doing is pulling the rope,” Alikhan Smailov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
SOLUTIONS
Expanding Eurasian Economic Commission authority in decision-making
“I think we are ready to entitle the Commission with decision-making authority. I think that our countries are ready to put more trust in the Commission,” Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
“The Eurasian Economic Commission should have broader authority. Its level of responsibility should also rise,” Igor Petrishenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus.
“Very good and promising decisions are being made, but, unfortunately, the implementation is not perfect. Therefore, the powers of Eurasian Economic Union should be updated,” Zhenish Razakov, Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic.
“The Eurasian Economic Commission should be given additional powers. It can be done gradually, step by step. Otherwise, our integration will lose the required pace,” Andrey Belyaninov, Chairman of the Management Board, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).
Expanding economic cooperation and new joint projects
“From the point of view of further prospect of development, we must focus on cooperation. We need large integration projects that would involve all our countries. The work in this area has already begun,” Alikhan Smailov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“We need more integration projects (like Airbus in the EU), so that every country feels involved in implementing these projects. And every country would have additional benefits and feel more engaged,” Anton Siluanov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.
“We should expand cooperation and markets, supporting our joint product,” Igor Petrishenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus.
Using digital technology to develop integration
“We need to take an overall look of digital transformation that is changing, among other things, the logic of our integration project. It is thanks to EEU that our national governments have a unique chance to enjoy their national sovereignty in digital agenda. Otherwise, individual countries are unable to compete with transnational corporations and create ecosystems of their own,” Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
“Digitalization is definitely a binding integrating project. Digital technology, labelling, unified electronic signatures – these are things our Union cannot survive without. If we talk about integration, about building a union, it is a blood vessel, without which neither business, nor state can exist. Integration projects like this should have been implemented long before,” Anton Siluanov, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.
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