Belarus expects that the strategy to guide Eurasian economic integration till 2025 will be adopted soon. Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas made the statement as he met with Member of the Board (Minister) for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission Sergei Glazyev on 23 January, BelTA has learned.
Sergei Rumas said: “Unfortunately, we've been unable to implement everything in the Eurasian Economic Union. We hoped that the Eurasian Economic Union would be the pinnacle of integration, this is why today it is extremely important to correctly organize the work on strategic avenues of development of Eurasian integration. You oversee this work. I am convinced your experience and knowledge will allow us to pass the document [strategic directions of development of Eurasian economic integration for the period till 2025] soon.”
The prime minister remarked that as the country to preside over EAEU bodies in 2020 Belarus also understands its responsibility for preparing the document. “We've always maintained an active stance in the Eurasian Economic Union. We always insist on implementing no exemptions, restrictions, and barriers in the union. This is why we believe it is also very important for these strategic directions to fully meet our understanding of how a full-fledged union should be set up,” he added.
Sergei Rumas suggested discussing what differences of opinion concerning the document still need to be addressed and how views of the sides can be reconciled in anticipation of the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council that will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan next week.
In turn, Sergei Glazyev said he hopes that with the arrival of new Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich, who also took part in the meeting, the commission's work will become more dynamic.
Sergei Glazyev said: “It was in Minsk that the decision to secure faster progress on the common economic space had been made upon the initiative of the Belarus president. 2017 was chosen as the deadline back then. Now we have to also deal with the issues that were to have been addressed by 2017. I hope proper dynamics will be secured in our work thanks to Belarus' presidency and Mikhail Myasnikovich's work as the head of the Eurasian Economic Commission.”
The Belarusian head of government pointed out that Mikhail Myasnikovich swung into action right after his candidacy was approved by heads of state. “Although he has yet to receive his salary – it is the first case like that in integration associations as far as I can recall, he is already taking an active part in the work. We've held several meetings to discuss what we should focus on initially. This is why I fully share your belief and we strongly hope that with his arrival our integration agenda will get an additional impulse,” Sergei Rumas concluded.