5 Eurasian Economic Union member states sign agreements to strengthen economic ties

Five heads of government from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) signed four agreements to strengthen economic integration, following a meeting in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Tuesday.

The expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council was attended by five EAEU member states, including prime ministers from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and a deputy prime minister from Armenia, as well as Cuban, Azerbaijani, and Uzbek premiers, who discussed a wide range of issues concerning Eurasian economic integration.

According to a Russian government statement, the meeting focused on transportation infrastructure, customs and tariff regulation, and climate change, after which four documents were signed.

“As Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin noted at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in early May in Moscow, the union brings real benefits to each of the participants in the association,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said while addressing the meeting.

Mishustin said positive dynamics can be observed in key macroeconomic indicators in all five EAEU members, and that the gross domestic product of member states increased by 3.8%, outpacing the global average growth rate.

Mishustin said cooperation is expanding within the organization to build a unified transport system, indicating that the formation of modern routes in Eurasia will help ensure the sustainability of production and logistics chains.

He and his counterparts, the Russian prime minister said approved a report on joint work to modernize transport infrastructure as part of the East-West and North-South international transport corridors.

“We count on strengthening active cooperation in the field of transport, which fully meets the interests of all states of the union and the Eurasian region as a whole,” he added.

One of the competitive advantages of the EAEU is its “openness to mutually beneficial and equal cooperation with all interested countries,” Mishustin said, adding that he is confident in the need to strengthen relationships with other regional organizations and individual states.

“I am confident that it is necessary to expand ties with the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), ASEAN, BRICS, and individual states in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America,” he said.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​