LIVING WITHOUT CUSTOMS

WPS Agency
What the Papers Say Weekly Review (Russia)
December 28, 2009 Monday
Russia

A special treaty presupposing the setup of a unified economic space
between the Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian
Federation has been signed in Alma-Ata; At the CIS informal summit
held in Alma-Ata, presidents of the Republic of Belarus, Republic
of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation signed documents presupposing
setup of a unified economic space, one of the steps to further promote
political, economic and cultural cooperation within the CIS space

On January 1st, 2010, a mechanism for the integration of Russia,
Belarus and Kazakhstan will be launched. It became possible after
the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed in Alma-Ata
a special treaty presupposing the setup of a unified economic space
(UES) between the countries. Firstly, a customs control procedure
will be cancelled at the Russia-Belarus border. A year after similar
regulations will be introduced at the Russia-Kazakhstan border. Within
the UES framework a common energy market, transportation space, and
other principal solutions will be introduced. It is expected that
within the upcoming five years the new venture will provide for a 15%
GDP growth of each member state. Reportedly, by 2015 a consolidated
integration effect of the Customs Alliance will amount to some USD
400 billion, as calculated based on the member states’ GDP additional
production. As the jointly adopted document reads, "We all are devoted
to a further development of integration processes within the EurAsEC
space. As our next objective, we confirm our intention for forming
a unified economic space of the Republic of Belarus, Republic of
Kazakhstan, and Russian Federation any time before January 1st, 2012".

The already concluded Customs Alliance to come into force on January
1st, 2010 will promote formation of the unified economic space. It
is designed to encourage common trade, increased competitiveness
of products, and new investment prospects for all member states of
the Alliance. Presidents Dmitry Medvedev, Alexander Lukashenko, and
Nursultan Nazarbayev cited both cultural and economic prerequisites
for that new joint venture: "We developed the joint agreement
through balancing our mutual interests and finding solutions of most
controversial issues. We agreed to take all necessary measures for
completing the formation of a unified customs space by July 1st, 2010.

Mutual understanding based on historical links and fraternity relations
between our peoples was of great support for us".

It was announced that the economic and political formation set up
within the CIS space was open for accepting new members: "Setting up
this Customs Alliance, we stand for its further expansion and hail
our other partners joining it as the Alliance develops".

Igor Shuvalov, Russian Government First Vice Premier, reported
that the three presidents instructed their negotiators to elaborate
all necessary documents for completing the formation of a unified
economic space by January 1st, 2012. For that it will be needed to
conclude some 20 new agreements. The basic package of agreements,
the most controversial one, will be developed within the upcoming
year. It will focus on unified principles for macroeconomic politics,
on joint approaches to subsidizing manufactured products, including
agriculture products.

The second bloc of agreements will unite six documents regulating
joint principles for foreign currency policies, and conditions for
access to services of natural monopolies that regulate positions in
power energy, railway transportation, oil and gas transportation,
including the development of joint fundamentals for tariff and
pricing policies. That is a united state consisting of three political
subjects, and one economic subject will actually be set up. It will
not be an exaggeration if we say that for the first time in the
post-Soviet period genuine steps for reunification have been taken.

In that connection President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko noted
that when creating a unified economic space it was vital to keep
integration rates: "It is vital for any process. As soon as the
pace has slackened, development processes in all directions will
slow down". He emphasized that Belarus insisted on completing all
efforts for setting up a unified economic space within a year: "We
have elaborated some documents already, and other documents still
need our attention. Experts are waiting for our solutions. President
Likashenko congratulated the president and people of Kazakhstan with
Independence Day: "The people of Kazakhstan deserve that holiday. I
saw with my own eyes how you celebrate it. People are happy, and I
congratulate them with that holiday".

It is time for settling further problems. Last June Premier Vladimir
Putin made a sensational declaration of the three countries’ intention
to join the WTO not as single member-states, but as an alliance.

In November President Dmitry Medvedev confirmed first economic success
of the new Alliance. In his words, the West was displaying increased
interest in Russia’s potential joining the WTO. Additionally,
Kyrgyzstan, a WTO member state, announced its intention to join
the UES.

Armenia does not want to remain outside the integration process
either. President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan who also participated in
the CIS informal summit supported the idea of strengthening cooperation
and integration within the post-Soviet space. For reasons that everyone
can understand, the President of Armenia emphasized the necessity
of political and military cooperation and further strengthening of
secure environment. He congratulated the President of Kazakhstan
with Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship in 2010, and emphasized that it
was for the first time in the OSCE history that it was chaired by a
CSTO member state. Armenia supported the initiative for Kazakhstan
promotion to chair the OSCE, as that move could provide access to
CSTO member states’ approaches to both regional and global cooperation
and security problems.

Taking into account the fact that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan leaders
also attended the Alma-Ata summit, we could suppose that the CIS
informal summit ahs good prospects for the future. Not only the
formation of Russia’s new international image and its more precise
foreign politics are important in that respect, but the fact that
Russia’s integration processes have serious economic grounds. It
becomes more profitable to live in an alliance for any country. That
is not a USSR restoration, but the creation of a new formation
much resembling the European Union within the post-Soviet space. If
implemented, that project would ultimately put an end to the USSR
epoch and give rise to the appearance of a new quality geopolitical
formation in Eurasia.

Source: Rossiiskie Vesti, N49, 21.12.2009, EV