The heads of government of the EAEU identified the priorities of the union
During the first half of the year, the total GDP of the EAEU increased by 4.5%, industrial production increased by 4.8%, and mutual trade in the union by 5.7%—these interim results were outlined on Tuesday at an expanded meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan. However, as the heads of government stated, for sustainable growth in the foreseeable future, states will need more active joint work in several areas at once - facilitating trade conditions with third countries, developing international logistics corridors, production cooperation in priority sectors, as well as ensuring food security and scientific -technical cooperation.
At a meeting of the EAEU Intergovernmental Council on Tuesday in Yerevan, the economic results of the union for the first half of the year were summed up. As Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted, during this time the EAEU GDP grew by 4.5%, industrial production by 4.8%, agricultural output by 3.5%, the volume of construction work by 4%, and retail turnover increased by almost 8.5%. The volume of mutual trade between the participating countries increased by 5.7%, while the share of national currencies in mutual payments stabilized at about 90%.
However, in order to maintain the current growth rates in the future - as follows from today’s speeches, they generally suit the association’s participants - a noticeable expansion of cooperation is necessary. In particular, we are talking about increasing trade with third countries: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan insisted on additional analysis of existing trade agreements and their regular revision. The head of the Belarusian government, Roman Golovchenko, spoke about the importance of speedily completing negotiations on the creation of free trade zones with the UAE and Indonesia and a temporary trade agreement with Mongolia. Mikhail Mishustin noted the ongoing “fruitful interaction” of the EAEU countries with China, and Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov emphasized that the growth of trade with China and other key partners will be facilitated by increasing the capacity of the international North-South transport corridor.
In addition to foreign trade relations, the EAEU countries intend to expand—albeit with restrictions—integration within the union.
Thus, the heads of government approved the concept of forming a common exchange market for goods, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk following the results of the intergovernmental council - however, oil and oil products were predictably not included in the list of “union exchange markets”. The Union program for the development of exchange trading is planned to be approved by the end of the year. Also in the integration context, the expansion of industrial cooperation was discussed. According to the Russian Prime Minister, the first project after selection within the framework of the supranational mechanism for supporting cooperative initiatives will soon receive preferential intercountry funding. Mr. Mishustin also invited his colleagues to think about grant support for joint research and development work.
The EAEU is also counting on more active interaction in certain sectors, including the agro-industrial complex. Food security of countries requires taking into account the specialization and production capabilities of all members of the union.
Mikhail Mishustin noted that the Russian Federation is counting on a consistent expansion of the lists of goods for which indicative balances of mutual trade are compiled.
Let us recall that as part of the formation of such balances, the EAEU countries undertake obligations to supply goods in certain volumes and ensure their free movement in intra-Union trade (see “Kommersant” dated June 4). For the Russian side, another area of joint work discussed on Tuesday may be of particular interest in the agro-industrial complex - more active interaction in seed production and genetics: self-sufficiency in these areas in the Russian Federation is extremely heterogeneous, which even affected the reduction of the targets of the specialized federal project (see “Kommersant” dated September 12).
