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Belarusian prime minister describes Eurasian Economic Union project as extremely challenging

 

The establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union is an extremely challenging and complex project, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said during a round-table conference, "Eurasian Economic Outlook.”

“There should be two draft agreements or at least two parts of one draft agreement—institutional and codified,” he said. “Otherwise all attempts to make a single agreement are doomed to fail.”

Mr. Myasnikovich expressed doubt that Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia would reach agreement on all key issues by January 1, 2015, the scheduled date of the coming of the Eurasian Economic Union into existence. There is no consensus as to the “depth of integration” and the time frames of various projects, including the establishment of a single railroad corporation, the creation of a single power grid, and the development of a common migration policy, he said.

An agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union should be “an institutional baseline document” that addresses accession and withdrawal procedures, the Union’s main goals, property and defense issues, the powers of supranational bodies and the relative weight of joint and national decisions as well as guarantees equal rights for citizens of the three countries and for businesspeople, Mr. Myasnikovich said.

He noted that companies were afraid of uncertainty resulting from Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and Kazakhstan’s effort to join it. “They want to know how much support they can expect and what the lending policy will be,” Mr. Myasnikovich explained.

He said that Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia should reduce competition among their companies and work to “conquer new markets,” and that Russia should remove barriers for Belarusian cargo carriers.

It is also necessary to devise both a competition protection law and a model law that would provide for a common industrial policy within the Common Economic Zone of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, Mr. Myasnikovich said. Instead of pursuing a common industrial policy as they once did, the three countries merely coordinate their national policies at present, he said. // BelaPAN