On November 19, the Eurasian Economic Commission hosted enlarged session dedicated to 100 days of membership of the Kyrgyz Republic in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) under the chairmanship of the EEC Member of the Board – Minister Danil Ibraev.
On November 19, the Eurasian Economic Commission hosted enlarged session dedicated to 100 days of membership of the Kyrgyz Republic in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) under the chairmanship of the EEC Member of the Board – Minister Danil Ibraev.
The event was held in the video conference format with involvement of such cities as Osh, Bishkek, Sverdlovsk, and Ufa.
The session was attended by the Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Technical Regulation Valery Koreshkov, Member of the Board – Minister of the EEC Ara Nranyan, directors of the EEC Departments, representatives of the Government of Kyrgyzstan and Russia, heads of the federal and regional governmental authorities, large wholesale and retail companies, representatives of RZD, RSPP, CCI, as well as business associations of Kyrgyzstan.
The session participants discussed the work of the Commission in various directions: technical regulation, application of sanitary, veterinary and phytosanitary measures, customs administration, trade, transport and infrastructure, as well as business development, financial and migration policy in the EAEU.
Member of the Board – Minister in charge of Technical Regulation of the EEC Valery Koreshkov underlined that joint work with the Kyrgyz counterparts "of course goes beyond these 100 days. It started much earlier and concerned every aspect of technical regulation."
Having noted that this direction played the key role in the Union with regard to the safety of products and actually dictated the rules of movement of goods, the EEC Minister stated: "Step-by-step implementation of the EAEU Technical Regulations is taking place in Kyrgyzstan. 12 of them regarding wheeled vehicles, electric goods, etc. are already in force in the Republic. With regard to the others, we are already conducting active preparation to their implementation."
Valery Koreshkov drew attention to the great work on bringing national regulatory and legal base in the sphere of sanitary, veterinary and quarantine phitosanitary measures into compliance with the EAEU requirements. The EEC Minister said: "In these spheres, about 20 regulatory and legal acts have been adopted, as well as the structure and staffing of state authorities and institutions of Kyrgyzstan have been optimized. Seven border-crossing points at the Kyrgyz side of the EAEU external border are equipped with the required facilities. Substantial assistance, including in financial sphere, with regard to equipment of these points has been rendered by the Russian Federation".
The EEC Minister Ara Nranyan addressed several issues raised by Kyrgyz entrepreneurs. He explained special aspects of alcohol import for individual consumption and for commercial purposes, as well as transportation of such products. Mentioning the issue of equivalence of veterinary control services, Ara Nranyan described the relevant experience in Armenia. He also touched upon the issue of necessity to simplify the procedure of the VAT return, which is currently on the EEC agenda. Addressing this issue will stimulate growth of mutual trade among the EAEU Member States.
The EEC Minister Danil Ibraev noted positive dynamics since the full-fledged accession of Kyrgyzstan to the EAEU in August, 2015: "Since November 18, phytosanitary and sanitary control at the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border has been eliminated. The Kyrgyz Republic has joined the Single Services Market in 43 sectors. According to the introduced amendments, from January 1, 2016, carriers of the EAEU Member States will have the right to make one cabotage truck haulage within the Kyrgyzstan territory in the same manner as the Kyrgyz truckers within the territories of the Chelyabinsk, the Novosibirsk and the Sverdlovsk Regions of the Russian Federation; the Gomel, the Mogilev and the Vitebsk Regions of the Republic of Belarus; the Aragatsotn, the Lori and the Tavush Regions of the Republic of Armenia".
According to the EEC Minister, another advantage of the Kyrgyzstan integration in the EAEU was participation of the national representatives in the Advisory Committees: 122 representatives of over 30 authorized bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic have been officially included in 17 advisory bodies functioning under the Eurasian Economic Commission.
The session participants conducted the analysis of the state of economy and the cooperation between the EAEU Member States with the reference to statistic data. Thus, based on the 9 month results, the GDP growth amounted to 106.1%. 0.8% of the total volume of mutual export of the EAEU Member States accounts for the Kyrgyz Republic. Import of Kyrgyzstan from the EAEU Member States grew from 4.1% to 4.7% of the total import of the EAEU Member States. Inflow of direct foreign investments in January – June of 2015 as compared to January – June of 2014 increased 2.3 times. As regards the mutual trade of the Kyrgyz Republic with the EAEU Member States, 18% falls on food products and agricultural raw materials; 13% – mineral products; 12% – cars, equipment and vehicles; 4% – chemical products; 2% – metals and metal products.
Within the framework of the session, representatives of the large Russian retail companies discussed issues of possible cooperation in the sphere of trade with the regional entrepreneurs of Kyrgyzstan, as well as named the existing barriers and ways of their elimination. The session participants noted a range of factors contributing to high estimation of the Kyrgyzstan perspectives at the EAEU common market by the entrepreneurs. The most important of them are liberal trade regime, environmentally friendly products, rich mineral resources, protection of investments, free currency exchange, low cost of doing business, and qualified workforce.
Danila Ibraev stressed: "Today, Kyrgyzstan is developing interregional investment relations with Novosibirsk, Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and other regions of Russia, as well as the Republic of Bashkortostan. However, a rather high potential has not yet been used. Kyrgyzstan needs to extend cooperation with regard to mutual supply of agricultural products, construction materials, products of machine building and hydro energetic complex, as well as the sphere of innovations."
Following the results of the session, a press-conference was held.