Today in Almaty, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev took part in a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

Prime Ministers of the Republic of Armenia ­—  K. Karapetyan, the Republic of Belarus —  A. Kobyakov, the Kyrgyz Republic —  S. Isakov, the Russian Federation — D. Medvedev and Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission T. Sargsyan also participated in the meeting.

The meeting of the Intergovernmental Council passed in a reduced and expanded formats.

At the reduced-format meeting, topical issues of integrative cooperation were considered. One of the key issues was the discussion of the implementation of the Eurasian Economic Union’s digital agenda and the mechanisms for pursuing a coherent policy. Proposals of the EAEU member states and basic integration projects are being discussed alongside the meeting at the international forum Digital Agenda in the Era of Globalization, timed to the EAEU session.

In addition, the heads of government in a reduced format discussed the implementation of obligations within the functioning of the internal market of the Eurasian Economic Union.

At the extended session, the participants discussed the macroeconomic situation in the EAEU member states and made proposals for ensuring further sustainable economic growth. The subject of discussion was also the state of mutual trade between the EAEU member states in 2017, joint forecasts for the AIC development, the demand and supply balance for agricultural products, food, flax fiber, leather raw materials, cotton fiber and wool of the Union member countries for 2017-2018.

Prior to the meeting, the Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, as a head of the Government of the host country, announced in his speech a number of practical results in the development the EAEU activities. So, the contractual legal basis of the Union has been created and is improved constantly.

"Work on the formation of the EAEU is underway. For three years of our work, there are positive results. We adopted a number of important documents related to the current and further development of the Union. Proof of this is the entry into force of the new Customs Code of the EAEU on 1 January. Thus, conditions have been created for the accelerated passage of customs formalities," said Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

Despite global economic instability, Kazakhstan manages to maintain a positive dynamics of trade turnover both within the EAEU and in trade with third countries. In 2017, the economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan showed significant growth, according to preliminary data, an increase of 4%.

For reference: In January-November 2017, Kazakhstan's trade with the EAEU countries totaled $15.6 billion and increased by 28% compared to the same period of the last year. Of these, exports of processed goods to the EurAsEC member states increased by 34.4%.

Also, topical issues related to the digitization of all sectors of the economy, the market of goods and services, labor and capital were raised.

"Due to the planned transition to the digitization of the economy, a number of issues on the employment of the released labor are topical. Our citizens should be able to find a new job relatively quickly, including on the territory of the Union," Bakytzhan Sagintayev said, recalling the discussion at the level of the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia on the creation of a Single Integrated Eurasian Electronic Labor Exchange and the development of standerd qualification requirements for employees.

Speaking about the forthcoming work, Bakytzhan Sagintayev expressed the opinion that "this year will become anchor for the implementation of topical issues and new initiatives related to the functioning of our integration association."

At the same time, attention was drawn to a number of factors, the solution of which is necessary for the further development of the Union. Among them is the automation in customs processes.

"In the context of a single customs territory, there is no integration with regard to customs declarations for export, temporary import of railway transport. In this regard, I consider it necessary to carry out joint work on amending the decisions of the Commission, as well as in international transport legislation," the Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev announced the proposal.

It is important to promote the work on the integration of information systems and provide the possibility of electronic provision of customs marks on transport documents. At the same time, Kazakhstan, together with UNCTAD, is gradually introducing the Astana-1 information system, through which the customs transit and customs export procedure is successfully declared.

Work on the formation of the EurAsEC contractual legal framework is underway in a planned manner.

Following the results of the EAEU meeting, 14 documents were adopted, among them are the Agreement on the Labeling of Goods by Identification Means in the Eurasian Economic Union, developed on behalf of the Prime Ministers and aimed at increasing control over the circulation of goods on the territory of the EAEU member states.

In addition, the Regulation on the Development, Financing and Implementation of Interstate Programs and Projects in the Industrial Sphere was approved.

At the same time, the Orders of the Intergovernmental Council on the issues related to the implementation of the Treaty on the Provision of Pensions for Workers of the Eurasian Economic Union Member States, the Macroeconomic Situation in the Union’s Member Countries, proposals for sustainable economic development, mutual trade among the EAEU members, and forecasts for the development of the AIC were signed.

The participants of the meeting appointed a representative of the Kyrgyz Republic as a member of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The next meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council is planned to be held in Minsk (Belarus).