Mikhail Mishustin: “COVID-19 remains the main issue on the agenda. Our countries are taking measures to contain the infection. The Russian vaccines have proven their effectiveness, and we have organised supplies to the countries of the union. Russia is helping to set up vaccine production. The Travel without COVID-19 mobile app has proven its relevance. Developers are working to add more features and expand its geography.”
Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks at a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Documents signed following the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Heads of delegations taking part in the expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council:
Group photo of the heads of delegations taking part in the expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Mikhail Mishustin at the expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Mikhail Mishustin at the expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Mikhail Mishustin at the expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Group photo of the heads of delegations taking part in the expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan;
Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko;
Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Chair of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Askar Mamin;
Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan – Head of the Presidential Executive Office of the Kyrgyz Republic Akylbek Japarov;
Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin;
Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz (video address);
Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov (via videoconference);
Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission Board Mikhail Myasnikovich.
Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks at a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
Good afternoon, colleagues. Prime Minister Mamin, Prime Minister Pashinyan.
I would like to join in the words of gratitude to our Armenian partners for their warm welcome and excellent organisation of this event.
I would like to specifically greet the prime ministers of the observer states, Cuba and Uzbekistan.
COVID-19 remains the main issue on the agenda. Our countries are taking measures to contain the infection. The Travel without COVID -19 mobile app has proven its relevance. Passengers upload their negative test results received from certified labs on the app to show them upon arrival in a country. It has become more convenient and, most importantly, safer to travel.
More than a million users have downloaded the app. Developers are working to add more features and expand its geography. The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS are participating in the project. We hope that it will take on in other countries as well. As the incidence rate remains high, we need to create conditions for safe passenger service.
We need to achieve a strong collective immunity to combat the virus. This is why we are ramping up mass vaccination. The Russian vaccines have proven their effectiveness, and we have organised supplies to the countries of the union. Russia is helping to set up vaccine production, and we will continue to assist our partners and share experience.
In addition to countering the coronavirus, it is necessary to facilitate manufacturing of strategically important medications in our countries. We will approve an action plan for the next three years to achieve this goal. Safe and effective medical drugs must become equally accessible to citizens of all five states.
The pandemic has shown that cooperation within the EAEU remains sustained even in challenging circumstances. Our economies are gradually recovering. Over the first nine months of 2021, our mutual trade grew by more than 30 percent; exports to third countries increased by almost 40 percent and imports from third countries by 25 percent.
Agricultural trade is showing a good dynamic. We are completely self-sufficient when it comes to grain, sugar, vegetable oils and some other products.
We are working hard to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital and the workforce. Three barriers and two obstacles have been eliminated since early 2021. A road map for eliminating exceptions and limitations on the common market until late 2022 has been approved. We are urging all partners to join in and actively implement it and fulfil its 35 measures.
Naturally, we have to do everything possible to eliminate grey work schemes within the common market. The practical experience of the last few years shows that labelling goods is among the most effective mechanisms for attaining this. We would like to thank our partners for supporting this highly promising aspect of the Eurasian Economic Union’s activities.
We have started labelling footwear, perfumery, tyres, cameras, light industry goods and some dairy products. It has been decided to start labelling bottled water brands stage by stage.
We believe that it is also necessary to spread this mechanism to other types of goods. This will make it possible to more effectively oversee product sales and to deal with pirated goods throughout the entire Big Five region. This will help us whitewash the market.
We stipulate standard e-commerce regulation tools for all of the Union’s countries, and these tools remain in high demand. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has expedited this development. We support the Commission’s proposal to draft a roadmap in this sphere. Our entrepreneurs should receive clear and understandable regulations for their work, and these regulations would rule out excessive administrative loads. It goes without saying that they should rely on modern technologies and business processes. We are taking resolute action to merge financial markets. Today, we will sign the Agreement on the Procedure for Exchanging Credit Histories Data.
The Big Five’s citizens will receive equal opportunities while applying for loans all across the Union. At the same time, banks will be able to check any client’s credit history, regardless of his or her passport, and approve or reject loans after analysing all risks.
We consider the climate agenda to be a new and promising aspect of interaction between Union member states.
All of us comprehend our responsibility for preserving the environment, and we should help formulate the climate agenda in the most proactive manner. It is impossible to address climate problems on one’s own. We will cope with this task only by pooling our efforts.
The EAEU leaders have adopted a special statement on climate. In his remarks at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, President of Russia Vladimir Putin suggested that the member states should start unifying carbon reporting standards, implement mutually beneficial climate projects, and jointly create their own technologies based on the use of carbon-free energy sources.
Russia is ready to redouble efforts to coordinate approaches so that our countries can make full use of their experience, including in the sphere of green technology.
The EAEU has a High-Level Working Group on [Harmonising Approaches of the EAEU Member States within] the Climate Agenda. In the nearest possible time, it will prepare the main strategic approaches and the first package of the relevant roadmap arrangements to implement them. These measures must allow our countries to successfully deal with climate challenges.
Colleagues,
The Eurasian Economic Union is open to dialogue with our foreign partners. The geography of the free trade agreement is expanding. Talks are ongoing with Egypt, Israel, India and Iran. We are working actively with Indonesia and Mongolia. We are strengthening interaction with China with due regard for the Belt and Road Initiative.
In addition to this, we have recently completed an important stage on the path towards Russia-Belarus integration. The two states have approved the Guidelines for Implementing the Provisions of the Treaty Establishing the Union State and 28 departmental Union programmes. I am confident that the new cooperation formats we are creating during the integration of Russia and Belarus can also be used within the framework of the EAEU.
Here is another important subject, which we discussed during a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government last week. We nominated Moscow as a candidate city to host the World Expo 2030. We hope you will support us. Holding this major event in the capital of Russia would help us to enhance the status of our association on the international stage and to attract additional investment to the EAEU economy through the establishment of numerous business contacts.
Colleagues, we are holding this year’s last meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our Kazakh partners and personally to Askar Mamin for their active work within the framework of Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the EAEU, as well as to wish success to Kyrgyzstan, which will chair the EAEU next year.
Relations within the EAEU are based on the principles of mutual assistance, equal partnership and mutual respect for the interests of every member state. I am sure that this will allow us to continue working effectively to boost our trade and economic cooperation and implement new promising projects in all spheres. Most importantly, we will continue acting jointly and do everything necessary to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce throughout Eurasia, implement the Strategic Directions for Developing the Eurasian Economic Integration until 2025, which our presidents have approved, and create comfortable conditions for living, working and doing business in our countries.
Documents signed following the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council:
- Instruction regarding The
Approval of the Roadmap for the Raw Material Supply of Metallurgical
Enterprises of the EAEU Member States in 2021-2024;
- Decision on The Action Plan (Roadmap)
for Creating Conditions to Develop E-Commerce within the Framework of the EAEU;
- Decision on Amendments to the List of Goods Produced in the Republic of Kazakhstan
in Respect of which the Certificate of Origin Can Be Applied;
- Instruction regarding Amendments
to the List of Goods Produced in the Republic of Kazakhstan in Respect of which
the Certificate of Origin Can Be Applied;
- Decision on The Amendment of the
Decision No. 129 of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission dated 21 September
2021;
- Instruction regarding The
Drafting of the Agreement on Alcohol Market Regulation within the Framework of
the Eurasian Economic Union;
- Instruction regarding The Time
and Place of the [Next] Meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council;
- Instruction
regarding The State of Mutual Trade between Member
States of the Eurasian Economic Union in 2020;
- Instruction regarding Joint
Development Forecasts for the Agroindustrial Complex and the Supply and Demand
Balance of Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union in Agriculture, Foods, Flax
Fibre, Hides, Cotton Fibre and Wool in 2021-2022;
- Instruction regarding The
Approval of the Roadmap until 2024 for Increasing the Supply of Member States
of the Eurasian Economic Union with Strategically Important Medicines and
Medical Pharmaceutical Substances the Production of which Must Be Ensured in
the Eurasian Economic Union;
- Agreement on the procedure for
exchanging information contained in credit histories within the framework of
the Eurasian Economic Union;
- Decision on The Draft Decision
of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council Regarding the Report on the
Implementation of the Eurasian Economic Union Budget in 2020;
- Decision on The Draft Decision
of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council Regarding the Eurasian Economic Union
Budget for 2022;
- Instruction regarding The Financial
Economic Audit of the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Eurasian
Economic Commission;
- Instruction regarding The
Submission to the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council of the Nominee for the Board
of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
