Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Russia will render overall support to Kyrgyzstan for its joining the Customs Union, which unites Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said during his meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Jantoro Satybaldiyev.

The sides discussed Kyrgyzstan's preparations for joining the organization, Kyrgyz Telegraph Agency reported on September 26.

Kyrgyzstan hopes to have Russia's support in this issue, Satybaldiyev said.

Medvedev, in turn, said Russia will render every assistance to Kyrgyzstan. "Long and hard work is needed for Kyrgyzstan in this issue."

Earlier Satybaldiyev said that Kyrgyzstan has expressed its political will by stating its desire to join the Customs Union.

Meanwhile, there are several difficulties in this regard and Kyrgyzstan needs political support from the member countries of the Customs Union to resolve them, Satybaldiyev said.

The Customs Union was established in 2010 between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The purpose of the Customs Union 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.

The experts believe that the accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Russia-backed Customs Union will lead to many negative consequences, including significant increase of prices in the country and thus, Kyrgyzstan will become dependent on other members of the organization.

However, other experts think that after joining the union, Kyrgyzstan will have the opportunity to receive raw materials from the organization's member-states in a more profitable way.