Kyrgyzstan to ink agreement on joining CU next month
By Aynur Jafarova
Kyrgyzstan is set to sign an agreement on joining the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia on December 23, RIA Novosti reported on November 10 quoting Deputy Head of the Kyrgyzstan’s Presidential Administration, Head of the Foreign Policy Department Sapar Isakov.
“The signing of the agreement is scheduled for December 23, taking into account the reciprocal efforts of our partners in the union,” he noted.
It is also expected that the signing ceremony will take place during a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, which will be attended by Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev.
“After signing ceremony, the procedure of ratification of the agreement will start on the domestic level,” Isakov added.
The Customs Union was established in 2010 aimed to form a single customs territory within which no customs duties or economic restrictions are applied. The Single Economic Space of the Customs Union started operating on January 1, 2012.
Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia signed an agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) on May 29, 2014.
The main conditions to join the organization are as follow: having unified tariffs and technical regulations, harmonizing labor and immigration legislation and establishing a unified banking system.
On May 29, a plan of measures on joining of Kyrgyzstan to the Customs Union was signed as well.
Currently, the package of documents required for Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Customs Union and Eurasian Economic Union are under consideration by the country’s parliament.
The government believes that Kyrgyzstan will manage to adopt all documents necessary for the country’s joining to the union.
Earlier Atambayev said Kyrgyzstan aims to become a full member of the Customs Union, and hence the Eurasian Economic Union by January 1, 2015.
He believes joining such unions is a very correct and accurate decision, and there is no equivalent alternative to it.
"Either the country will face isolation, or get a powerful impetus for the socio-economic development, I want to emphasize that the countries of the Customs Union do not have any territorial claims against us at all. The levels of economic development and incomes of the population in them are several times higher than in our country. We will get a chance to pull up our performance to this bar," the president said.