Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks at the meeting:
Mr Tokayev, friends,
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev meets with heads of delegations of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev meets with heads of delegations of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev meets with heads of delegations of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council
First of all, I would like to convey greetings and best wishes to you from President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
And, of course, my heartfelt thanks go to our Kazakhstani friends for their wonderful organisation of the Intergovernmental Council’s regular meeting and for their traditional hospitality. As usual, here in Nur-Sultan, you have managed to create a special atmosphere, conducive to fruitful work.
Kazakhstan is making a considerable contribution to the development of integration processes on the Eurasian continent. Last year, the republic successfully accomplished its EAEU chairmanship. It became possible to make much headway in many areas. I am primarily referring to industrial cooperation. Documents have been approved, which will make it possible to tap the EAEU’s transport potential in greater measure. Much has been done to identify and remove barriers in mutual trade.
Last year’s results show positive dynamics in the economies of EAEU states. GDP is on the rise as is industrial production. Trade has performed well, both within the EAEU and internationally.
Today, we are prioritising the implementation of the Strategic Directions for Developing Integration, approved by our leaders. It is necessary to continue the efforts to strengthen the common market, to ensure the free movement of goods, services, investment and workforce, and to build up the output of hi-tech products. We think it is essential to speed up the digitalisation of economic processes in the EAEU space and cooperate more proactively in innovation and e-trade. We discussed all these issues at our meeting yesterday.
There are many important matters on our agenda, including with regard to the agreements on using navigation seals and the mechanism for tracing the goods.
We see that with each passing year, EAEU collaboration embraces more and more new areas. Areas such as the climate agenda, healthcare, education, science, and tourism are increasingly relevant. We hope for active cooperation with our partners in these spheres.
Colleagues,
Eurasian integration is yielding perceptible results. Effort-pooling makes it possible for us to deal with difficulties that arise more rapidly, and there are quite a few of them. I am referring not only to the fight against Covid-19. The global economy is in crisis and outside pressure is increasingly strong. All of this is affecting, directly or indirectly, each EAEU member-state.
Therefore, we need to develop common approaches to counteract these challenges. We are wholly in favour of the Kazakh President’s proposal to create a working group with the participation of our economy ministers and regulators to elaborate a set of measures that will ease the pressure of sanctions.
Of course, not everyone likes the fact that we continue strengthening our cooperation even under the existing circumstances. Western countries are trying to divide us and therefore today’s meeting is the best confirmation of our unity and common intention to pursue joint work within the EAEU. President of Russia Vladimir Putin has also given his assessment of the current situation. He has clearly outlined the objectives facing our country.
