A meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council was held in Almaty

The EAEU countries hope to remove the barriers that remain in the union’s internal trade—now, despite the existence of a common market, exporters still face hidden obstacles, said participants at a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty. The prime ministers of the EAEU countries on Friday also took part in the Digital Almaty digital forum, where they discussed the possibility of forming common approaches to digitalization. It is proposed to develop the EAEU information system – in pilot mode, it may provide access to some types of government services of the “five” countries.

The first meeting of the EAEU Intergovernmental Council after the renewal of the composition of the EEC board (its head was the representative of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev, who replaced the representative of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich) was largely devoted to the elimination of barriers in the internal market of the union. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that in 2023, ten barriers, six obstacles and one restriction were eliminated. Nevertheless, many difficulties still remain. Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Kyrgyzstan Adylbek Kasymaliev proposed creating a monitoring group to identify problems in the mutual trade of the EAEU countries, calling the elimination of barriers in the internal market of the association “one of the most pressing issues” of the association.

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov said that mutual trade between the EAEU countries has doubled since 2016 – to $85 billion, but noted that exporters still often face hidden restrictions in domestic trade. Also, according to him, suppliers need unhindered transit to third countries. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan complained about the lack of a common approach to the single energy market among the “five” countries. Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov (the country has observer status in the EAEU) proposed developing measures for free trade in agricultural products without the use of tariff and non-tariff restrictions, and also proposed developing an agreement between Uzbekistan and the EAEU on the exchange of transportation data for the accelerated movement of goods across borders.

The head of the Belarusian Cabinet of Ministers, Roman Golovchenko, proposed revising the list of third countries with which the EAEU is interested in concluding trade agreements “taking into account current world realities,” paying special attention to the states of the Global South. Developing this topic, Mikhail Mishustin called on the “five” countries to carry out as quickly as possible the procedures necessary for the already signed trade agreement with Iran to enter into force. He reported on the development of a temporary free trade agreement with Mongolia and on the improvement of the existing agreement with Vietnam. “We have made significant progress in the dialogue with Egypt, negotiations are underway with the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia,” the Russian prime minister added.

Judging by the words of Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian side is counting on strengthening technological cooperation in the EAEU, on the development of the union’s integrated information system (IIS) and on the harmonization of railway transportation (following the meeting, a Memorandum of Commitment was signed on the harmonized development of the transport and logistics potential of the railway transport of the five countries “). The Russian Prime Minister also called on his colleagues to begin implementing the “Eurasian Economic Path” declaration previously adopted by the presidents of the EAEU countries as soon as possible. “In particular, on the climate agenda, the use of artificial intelligence systems, in the field of electronic commerce, on the formation of a common financial market, on increasing the share of national currencies in mutual settlements, which is now about 90% and continues to grow,” the Russian Prime Minister listed the tasks .

Also on Friday, the premiers of the five countries took part in the plenary session of the Digital Almaty forum, where the prospects for introducing artificial intelligence and digitalization in public administration were discussed. Mikhail Mishustin stated the need to find common approaches to the development of digital technologies in the EAEU – the main concern of the Russian side in this area is related to the fact that “technological leaders are increasing control over critical systems in infrastructure.” When developing general approaches, he proposed taking into account global trends: from localization of production (and reindustrialization) to the creation of integrated public administration systems.

The priorities of the Russian side include the launch of large mega-projects of technological sovereignty, strengthening the training of engineering teams and the introduction of digital technologies. According to Mr. Mishustin, the effect from the introduction of AI alone is already “a little over a trillion rubles,” and by the end of the decade it will exceed 10 trillion rubles, which will add almost 6% to GDP. The Russian side is ready to share its solutions “in a closed loop” – in this case, only the services themselves and the cores of the solutions are common, but not the data, the Russian prime minister explained. Alikhan Smailov, in turn, proposed that the EAEU countries conduct joint research in the field of AI and create a common platform for technology exchange.

The new head of the EEC, Bakytzhan Sagintayev, said that the commission plans to develop common public services for the “five” countries; for this, he proposed to pilot cross-border online access to individual digital services on the territory of the union member countries. The commission will present the concept of such access based on IIS at the next meeting of the intergovernmental council, which will be held in May this year in Belarus.

Tatyana Edovina, Almaty; Vadim Visloguzov