Azernews.Az

Despite fears in the country, Kyrgyzstan will not lose anything if it joins the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, independent Kyrgyz expert, doctor of economic sciences, professor Ayilchy Sarybaev said.

Kyrgyzstan's possible joining Russian-backed Customs Union raises numerous concerns in the country.

The observers believe that the accession will lead to many negative consequences, including significant price increases in the country and that Kyrgyzstan will become dependent on other members of the organization.

The republic's leadership has expressed the political will to join the organization, but the exact date of Kyrgyzstan's joining the union is unknown. The Kyrgyz government thinks that the Republic is a favorable transit country and an object for making investments to the Customs Union.

"I believe that our partners and neighbor-members of the Customs Union are interested in Kyrgyzstan's joining the regional organization with its advantages, high transit potential, available and qualified labor force," Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev told the participants of the "Kyrgyzstan moves towards Eurasian integration" international conference, which was held late March.

Expert Sarybaev told Trend news agency over phone that the parties had to create the Customs Union, as they were not accepted into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and that the Union was founded as opposed to it. At present, Kazakhstan is in the process of accession to the WTO and Russia has recently joined. Kyrgyzstan will lose nothing after joining the Customs Union in these circumstances, he said.

"It will be profitable for Kyrgyzstan to develop bilateral economic relations with these neighboring countries and within other organizations as Russia and Kazakhstan will also be part of the WTO and work in accordance with the rules of the organization," he added.

He stressed that Kyrgyzstan has nothing to offer to the Customs Union.

"Kyrgyzstan will join the organization as a weak side and a consumer," he said. "It is a political, rather than an economic action for its current members."

After joining, Kyrgyzstan will have the opportunity to receive raw materials from the organization's member-states in a more profitable way.

The Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus was established in 2010. The purpose of the CU is the formation of a single customs territory, within which no customs duties or economic limitations are applied. The single economic space of the Customs Union started operating on January 1, 2012.