BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/08/2006

Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus to prepare documents for customs union

Participants of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) summit in Sochi charged Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus with preparation of necessary documents for creation of customs union.

38 documents have been considered with the Single Economic Zone, while Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus have approved 31 of them, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev said.

"We will approve the rest seven documents in October-November, and the three countries will create a complete Customs Union. It will be easier for other countries to join on the basis of ready documents," Nazarbaev noted.

The Kazakh leader also said that Tajikistan was ready to join the Customs Union. The main barrier, according to Nazarbaev, is absence of common borders of Tajikistan with Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov in his turn said that neighbouring countries - Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan - would speed up unification of their legal documents and join the Customs Union as well.

As reported earlier, during informal summit of EurAsEC member states' heads, the community's secretariat as well as Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan were charged with "taking necessary measures" to create legal basis of the Customs Union with the EurAsEC.

According to the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the ultimate goal is joining of all EurAsEC participants to the Customs Union. Today the matter concerns creation of a customs union among Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. "The issue of further expansion of the union depends on the terms of decision-making at national level", Putin said.

EurAsEC includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Armenia, Moldavia and Ukraine have observer status in the EurAsEC.

Source:

http://news.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=17221