Kyrgyzstan to pass road map on joining Russian-backed Customs Union
By Aynur Jafarova
Kyrgyzstan will consider and adopt a road map on joining the Customs Union, which comprises Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, First Vice Prime Minister Joomart Otorbayev said on October 4 at a meeting of a parliamentary faction.
"Possibly, the road map will be adopted in December 2013," he said. "We will start working on this road map and move forward. However, this process should be certainly discussed with the public and Jogorku Kenesh [Kyrgyz parliament] as we are undertaking an important step and we have no right to make a mistake. We put the people's interest in the first place and our colleagues from the Customs Union understand it."
Otorbayev also said that in the near future Kyrgyzstan will establish an interdepartmental commission involving the heads of specialized state bodies and experts to discuss joining the Customs Union.
"The goal of joining the Customs Union is development of the country and improvement of the level of people's quality of life. There are organizations in other parts of the world the establishment of which also leads to positive results," Otorbayev said.
The Customs Union was established in 2010 between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The purpose of the organization is 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.
In September, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his country will render general support to Kyrgyzstan for its joining the Customs Union.
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiyev believes that Kyrgyzstan has expressed its political will by stating its aspiration to join the Customs Union, however, there are several challenges in this regard and Kyrgyzstan needs political support from the member countries to resolve them.
Experts believe that the accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Russia-backed Customs Union will lead to many negative consequences, including a significant increase of prices in the country and thus, Kyrgyzstan will become dependent on other members of the organization.
However, other analysts think that after joining the union, Kyrgyzstan will be able to receive raw materials from the organization's member states in a more profitable fashion.