Bakytzhan Sagintayev participates in session of EAEU: Results will increase welfare of the region’s citizens

July 27, 2018, Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev took part in a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in St. Petersburg, the prime ministers of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union also attended the meeting.

The prime ministers of Armenia — Nikol Pashinyan, Belarus — Andrei Kobyakov, Kyrgyzstan — Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev, the Russian Federation — Dmitry Medvedev, and Chairman of the Board of Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan took part in the meeting.

Traditionally, the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council was held in reduced and extended participation formats.

In the session with reduced attendance, the participants reviewed the implementation of the digital agenda of the EAEU, the issues of interaction in the fields of agriculture, energy and transport. In particular, the issues of forming a common gas market, creating a unified system for the transit of goods across the customs territory of the union using technical means and interfacing state information systems were discussed.

At the extended session, the issues of customs cooperation, as well as instruments for regulating integration for collaboration and import substitution in priority industries were considered.

The Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, speaking at the council’s meeting in an extended format, said that the results of the day's work — new ideas, projects and initiatives — will contribute to the welfare of all citizens of the states in the region. They will create conditions that will promote economic, political and social stability. Sagintayev noted that cooperation within the union shows a stable trend in the growth of trade turnover.

Bakytzhan Sagintayev also paid special attention to the legislative regulation of cooperation within the EAEU. Thus, the work on the formation and development of the contractual and legal basis of the union is conducted in a planned manner. More than 600 acts were adopted in 2017, they are aimed at the development of an integration association.

"We are striving to improve the quality of products, at the same time avoiding unnecessary management tools and costs for business. Work is underway to introduce about 70 amendments to the Treaty on the EAEU to improve the union’s legislation. Today there are trade and economic agreements concluded with China, free trade zone agreements with Vietnam and Iran. We need to continue the work on establishing partnerships for carrying out foreign trade policy," Sagintayev said, stressing that a number of important documents are also due to be adopted in the near future.

It should be noted that negotiations on the conclusion of trade and economic agreements between the EAEU and a number of states have been intensified. Cooperation affairs with Israel, India, Egypt, Singapore, Serbia and other countries are at various levels of readiness.

"Kazakhstan has always been a supporter of attracting new players to the ‘orbit’ of our integration. Here I note that the President of Kazakhstan emphasizes the need for the EAEU to cooperate with technologically successful and investment-attractive countries and integration blocs," Sagintayev said.

The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reminded the participants of the meeting about the new strategic tasks for further development and enhancement of the union’s attractiveness, set by the heads of the member states at the meeting of the Supreme Council held May 14, 2018. Thus, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev voiced the initiatives to create major infrastructure mega-projects: high-speed railway and highway on the route China – Kazakhstan – Russia – Belarus – Europe, a ship canal through the Caspian and Black Seas, as well as a proposal to analyze and eliminate existing obstacles in the mutual trade within the union.

In this regard, as noted by Sagintayev, it is necessary to make maximum use of the existing potential and infrastructure of the EAEU, which will become a bridge between Asia and Europe, the East and West, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Therefore, conducted meetings of the council will in the short term significantly reduce the number of barriers.

In conclusion the Prime Minister emphasized that the Eurasian Economic Union is increasingly becoming systematic and fundamental.

“This is a priority foreign economic project for us. We created the union as an open, equal integration association. Building our relationships on the principles of compromise and development of effective solutions will become a powerful stimulus for the strengthening of the union, increasing its attractiveness in the global community,” Sagintayev concluded.

Following the results of the meeting, the Intergovernmental Council signed the order on the formation of a common gas market for the Eurasian Economic Union and a working group on the issues of integration in cooperation and import substitution in priority industries, as well as a number of organizational documents. It was decided to hold the next meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Minsk in October 2018.

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