The Eurasian Economic Union (UEE) summit kicked off this Friday in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where leaders of Russia Vladimir Putin; Armenian, Nikol Pashinyan; Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko; Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Sadyr Japarov for the host country.
ALSO READ:
The presidents of Russia and the United Arab Emirates are discussing an oil price cap
Topics to be discussed at the meeting include the implementation of a common gas market, the establishment of an inter-agency energy council and strengthening cooperation within the bloc based on a common services market.
In this regard, the Russian President stressed that “tariffs and energy prices in the UEE countries differ drastically from the respective tariffs of our neighbors to the west”.
Similarly, the Kremlin chief pointed out that “the difference in gas prices in the countries of the EAEU and the European Union is ten times larger,” while emphasizing that these indices reflect the conditions for promoting economic development.
For his part, Eurasian Economic Commission Trade Minister Andrei Slepnev reported that the leaders of the member countries had approved the start of talks with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next March on the establishment of a free trade zone.
In line with this, Slepnev stated that “the study of a group of analysts showed that the formation of the free trade zone with the United Arab Emirates will create the necessary conditions for an increased supply of more than 1,300 products.”
At the same time, the Belarusian President stressed the need to “clearly and consistently maintain our presence on the world map and take additional measures to expand the free trade zone with the states interested in it.”
Lukashenko pointed out that there have been talks with countries like Iran and Egypt, which are in the final stages, to negotiate the creation of free trade zones.
Based on this, the head of state declared: “In principle, we should not have any obstacles to mutual trade, this is the essence of our union (…). decisions at national level”.
Likewise, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev agreed that “it would be necessary to eliminate all cases of movement restrictions, quotas and detention of Kazakh and non-Kazakh goods passing through our common customs territory.”
This Friday’s meeting between leaders of the organization, founded in 2014, is the second this year after they met virtually on May 27.