Briefing by Alexei Overchuk following the meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, the CIS Council of Heads of Government and the SCO Council of Heads of Government
Excerpts from the transcript:
Alexei Overchuk: A number of events took place today: meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, the Council of Heads of Government of the CIS and the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Speaking about the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, it is making progress. It is making very dynamic progress. Today we have talked a lot about the development of transport and logistics routes, about strengthening connectivity in the Eurasian region. We talked about the North-South corridor, and the East-West corridor. About development. Of course, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation always talks about security issues and increasing the level of security. All the participants stressed the Shanghai spirit of the organisation, where all members treat each other with mutual respect. That is why there was a very interesting discussion among the heads of government.
As for the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, today the discussion of the draft declaration on the socio-economic development of the Eurasian Economic Union, which was initiated in Armenia by the heads of government, was actually completed. It is a kind of vision for how the Union will develop through 2030 and onward to 2045.
Today, the heads of government have fully agreed on the text of the declaration, and we expect it to be signed by the heads of state in December at the Supreme Economic Council of the Eurasian Economic Union. This is a visionary document. There are also understandings, and they are reflected in the declaration, that more in-depth work will be continued, and as a result, a document of a strategic nature should appear, which will describe in detail how the topics touched upon in the declaration are to be implemented.
Also today, the regulation on the selection of industrial cooperation projects has been finalised. This is a crucial topic that makes it possible to talk about a new stage of integration within the Eurasian Economic Union. In fact, we are shaping the budget of the Union. We call it conditionally, unofficially, the Union’s development budget. The budget allocates 1.7 billion roubles for next year, which will be used to support industrial cooperation projects in the leading sectors of the economy, industries in which three or more countries of the Union will participate. We have agreed on all the conditions as a matter of principle. Of course, this is a rather complex professional document, although we tried to simplify it as much as possible to reduce the level of red tape. A pilot project will be implemented, and based on its results, final decisions will be made on how this mechanism should be arranged and what its sources will be. As of today, anti-dumping duties have been taken as a source, and 10 percent of the anti-dumping duties collected by the Union will be allocated to this project. We cannot rule out that at some stage decisions will be made on other sources. We are talking about subsidising the interest rate in commercial and development banks on loans to be used for industrial cooperation projects. This is what we are talking about. This is a very important topic. It will undoubtedly give an impetus to the development of modern industry, modern innovative industries in our Union. That is why it is important.
In addition, the issues of, let’s say, the internal life of the Union were discussed. In particular, preparations for the upcoming Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. We considered customs quotas on meat imports and quotas on the imports of electric cars: in other words, a fairly wide and engaging range of issues.
Question: Three summit meetings were held today. This is real multilevel integration: the SCO, the CIS and the EAEU. Does this help each integration association or, on the contrary, hinder it? Perhaps some of the best practices of these associations can be extended to other associations?
Alexei Overchuk: Indeed, when we talk about the CIS and the EAEU, we are talking about different levels of integration. And it is important that the countries themselves choose the level of integration that is comfortable for them. Although, of course, if we are talking about the CIS, this year, the year of the Kyrgyz chairmanship, very important decisions were made that really gave a new impetus to the development of the Commonwealth of Independent States. First of all, it is the decision to establish the International Russian Language Organisation, which was initiated by President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Another important decision was the de facto creation of a free market of services in the CIS. This is also the result of negotiations, which had been going on for quite a long time (I think 10 years or even more), but this year they were completed and the agreement was signed.
Therefore, there is a certain convergence in the levels of integration between the EAEU and the CIS, and at the same time, there are countries that are members of the CIS but are not members of the EAEU. The main thing is that we have these platforms where we gather, where we discuss common issues and solve them together.
And indeed, all decisions are made based on consensus, on mutual respect, and this, of course, distinguishes the integration that is taking place in the Eurasian space as a whole. This includes, of course, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Speaking of the Shanghai spirit, we are really very close here.
