Events

26 Dec 2023

FM: EAEU has made progress towards sustainability, economic growth

ST PETERSBURG, 26 December (BelTA) - The Eurasian Economic Union demonstrates positive trends in sustainability and economic growth, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Aleinik told reporters on the sidelines of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg, BelTA has learned.

Answering a question about how Belarus can benefit from the decisions taken at the summit, the foreign minister said: “The main advantage is, in principle, the very existence of this organization. Next year we will mark the 10th anniversary of the EAEU. Interim results of its work have been reviewed. They are impressive. They include a two-fold increase in trade [between the EAEU member states]. Our trade with countries outside the organization has expanded by 60%. There has been a significant increase in industrial and agricultural output. The last council of the EAEU agro-industrial complex concluded that the union had become absolutely self-reliant and self-sufficient in food staples. We are 90-100% self-sufficient across most types of agricultural products, and there is significant potential for export,” the foreign minister said.

Sergei Aleinik emphasized that the EAEU demonstrates positive trends in sustainable development and economic growth, and in ensuring technological sovereignty of the union as a whole and its member countries.

The St Petersburg summit was largely devoted to the development prospects of the integration association. The leaders of the countries adopted a declaration on the further development of the Eurasian Economic Union until 2030 and for the period until 2045. An instruction was given to develop measures to implement the declaration.

“First of all, it is about the economy. It was said by our head of state. Economic stability, the economic development of our union, ensuring the four freedoms that were documented - this is really the basis and foundation on which we are building and developing our integration,” the minister noted.

He remarked that the EAEU is becoming more and more attractive for many nations, including countries in the Global South and the Global East. A testimony to that is the signing of a free trade agreement with Iran on the sidelines of the summit, which will make products from the EAEU countries more competitive in the vast market of this country. “Negotiations are underway on similar free trade agreements with the UAE and Egypt. Such an agreement with India is also on the agenda (we hope that it will also come to fruition) and a number of other countries,” said Sergei Aleinik.

A reminder, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko also took part in the EAEU summit in St Petersburg on 25 December. He spoke about the prospects of Eurasian integration through 2045 and named the steadily functioning common market and the single customs space the main achievement in the Eurasian Economic Union. At the same time, the EAEU is not isolated from the world, and the integration association is open to mutually beneficial and equal cooperation with leading economies.

The head of state emphasized the need to scale up cooperation with large international associations, such as the SCO and BRICS, but noted that the EAEU has made much more progress in terms of integration. The main thing now is to maintain momentum. “We need to move in this direction in order to become not only a leading regional organization, but also a global economic organization. If we have strong economic cooperation, it will be a good springboard to promote interaction in politics and defense, cause in this case there will be something to defend. We should keep it in mind. We have a chance. The most important thing is to keep going,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.

At the summit, the leaders took a decision on the main guidelines of the EAEU macroeconomic policy for 2024-2025. The document lists the priority measures to help the economies of the organization to outperform the economies of other countries in terms of GDP.

The heads of state also discussed the EAEU’s main areas of international activities for 2024. They studied information about the work to remove barriers and reduce exemptions and restrictions in the EAEU internal market.

A document was signed to approve the Eurasian Economic Union budget for 2024. Budget expenditures were significantly increased over 2023.

One of the decisions of the summit concerns the creation of a new legal institution in the field of customs regulation. It envisages the establishment of an e-commerce operator to provide logistics and customs clearance of transactions with goods purchased by individuals online.

In 2024 Armenia will preside over the EAEU. It was also decided where and when the next meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council will take place. The summit dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the EAEU Treaty will be held in May 2024.

The participants of the summit also discussed the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Representative of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev will replace Belarus’ Mikhail Myasnikovich as Chairman of the EEC Board, the post he will hold for the next four years. Previously, he worked in various high positions in the government of his country, and most recently he was Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy of the Eurasian Economic Commission.