The participants discussed topical matters related to the activities of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks at the meeting
Documents signed following the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
List of heads of delegations attending the meeting of the Eurasian
Intergovernmental Council
Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan;
Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko;
Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Chairman of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Askar Mamin;
Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Ulukbek Maripov;
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin;
Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich
The Eurasian Economic Union’s observer states
Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov;
Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz (speaking via videoconference);
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cuba to the Russian Federation Julio Garmendia Peña;
Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Aurel Ciocoi (speaking via videoconference);
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Moldova to the Russian Federation Vladimir Golovatyuk
Invited guests:
Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Kohir Rasulzoda
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan, Chairman of the Supreme Control Chamber of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov
Extended meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Dear friends, I am delighted to welcome you to the Russian Federation and Kazan. This wonderful city always receives guests in the warmest and most hospitable manner. It may be symbolic, but one of its central streets is named in honour of the First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev who, in effect, became the architect of Eurasian integration.
It is important that our association is developing successfully and is becoming a regional centre of economic attraction. And we are open to mutually beneficial and equitable cooperation. Observer states, namely, Cuba, Moldova and Uzbekistan, are attending our meeting. Uzbek partners and the Eurasian Economic Commission have managed to launch systemic dialogue over a short time period. Today, we will attend the signing ceremony for the memorandum of cooperation between Uzbekistan and the Eurasian Economic Commission. An action plan for implementing it in the next three years will also be signed.
I would like to separately welcome Prime Minister of Tajikistan and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan, the esteemed Mr Kohir Rasulzoda and Mr Serdar Berdimuhamedov. I would like to thank them for coming and attending our meeting today as guests. I am convinced that they will find our meeting interesting and informative.
Other countries are also becoming interested in the Union. We have received over 50 proposals on signing preferential trade agreements. This opens up additional opportunities for speeding up economic growth, in the first place.
The COVID-19 response effort remains one of our priorities, all the more so as some states, primarily European states, are facing an expanding third wave of the pandemic. We need joint systemic measures that will make it possible to contain the infection. As we have repeatedly noted, the user-friendly and reliable mobile app called Travelling without COVID-19 has already been launched. Negative COVID-19 test results are uploaded from certified laboratories. Our citizens can therefore show these test results when entering any specific country. So far, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Russia are actively involved in the project. We hope that Kazakhstan will join us soon. It is important to expand the app by including vaccination data. I believe that its wide-scale use will make it possible to more quickly resume the safe passenger traffic that our citizens need.
We are working in difficult times and facing the pandemic, regional crises and trade wars. These problems are aggravated by Western interference in the domestic affairs of other states, as well as by powerful political and economic pressure. Even in these conditions, we are making effective decisions in order to strengthen the common market and lift restrictions on the movement of the workforce, goods, services and capital.
Our joint projects aim to facilitate economic growth and raise the well-being of our citizens, as noted by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in his Federal Assembly Address last week.
We will have to work hard. First of all, we have to implement strategic long-term Eurasian integration guidelines up to 2025. We have already approved an action plan aiming to draft over ten international treaties and 60 regulatory documents for the Union. It is also necessary to modify the current Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.
We are also completing preparations for some events. There are plans to sign an agreement on the procedure for exchanging credit histories within the Union before the year is out. Our citizens and legal entities will be able to take out loans in all five member states. Consequently, banks will be able to check borrowers’ data.
We will continue to create a common digital platform and to implement joint healthcare initiatives and those in other fields. We will do our best to overcome the consequences of the pandemic and to attain sustainable economic growth in our countries and the entire Union.
Some aspects require special attention. First of all, this includes efforts to remove obstacles in the Union’s domestic market. Not all barriers and restrictions have been lifted yet. But we have launched system-wide work, and we continue to actively search for optimal solutions. We will also expand cooperation to increase the safety of goods being supplied within the Eurasian Economic Union. We will jointly work to prevent the spread of new dangerous plant viruses in the Union. This issue is also included in the meeting agenda.
It is important to expand co-production arrangements that will expedite import substitution programmes needed by all our countries and the entire Union. And, of course, they will strengthen the economic security of our countries.
There are substantial opportunities for expanding cooperation in the field of space exploration. Quite recently, on 12 April, the world marked the 60th anniversary of the first manned space mission of Yuri Gagarin. His spacecraft lifted off from Baikonur and landed on the banks of Russia’s great Volga River. We believe that our interstate programme has serious prospects in this field. In the next five years, we will develop a joint space system. This calls for merging our countries’ satellite clusters, setting up a joint database that would contain the joint space system’s orbital photos and upgrading ground-based data acquisition and processing facilities. This grouping will operate as a common space system. This will make it possible to observe a larger territory and to quickly obtain all the required data.
I would like to single out another topic. The coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected global markets. National governments should coordinate intra-Union export regulation measures to curb consumer prices. Of course, this mostly concerns agricultural produce and raw materials. This is a sensitive issue for the citizens of our countries.
Colleagues, the Eurasian Economic Union is a powerful organisation which is always open to cooperation. Our Union should become the main link in building the Greater Eurasian Partnership. Regardless of the global situation, we have to expand contacts with our nearest partners, primarily the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS. We are interested in conducting constructive dialogue with the European Union on equitable terms and principles of mutual respect. And, of course, it is important to continue jointly implementing major and economically sound projects with other states, including those aiming to merge with the China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Thank you.
Documents signed following the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
- Instruction regarding the issue Implementing Instruction No. 6 of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council dated 31 January 2020
- Instruction regarding the issue Standardising the Rates of Export Customs Duties
- Instruction regarding the issue Standardising the Rates of Export Customs Duties
- Instruction regarding the issue Measures to Protect the Agricultural Produce Market of the Eurasian Economic Union from Dangerous Plant Viruses
- Decision regarding the issue Amending Decision No. 2 of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council dated 10 April 2020
- Directive Providing Equal Opportunities for Participating in the Programme of Purchasing Farming Machinery and Equipment in the Republic of Kazakhstan for Producers of the Eurasian Economic Union and Third Countries
- Instruction regarding the issue Results of Consultations on Measures of Economic Pressure Exerted by Third Parties on Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union
- Decision regarding the issue Industrial Cooperation Guidelines within the Eurasian Economic Union up to 2025
- Directive Submitting the Candidacy of a Member of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council
- Directive Submitting the Candidacy of a Member of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council
- Directive Submitting the Candidacy of a Member of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council
