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The Minister in charge of Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission stated this at the session The Greater Eurasian Partnership: Pathways to Economic Development held as part of the 7th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

"I believe that today we should talk less about sanctions, should look ahead and not get distracted from phenomena that manifested themselves much earlier. These are the matter of transitioning from globalization to regionalization, the matter of dismantling a number of international institutions that since World War II have been the foundation of global economy and also the climate agenda backed by a new technological paradigm," said he expressing his confidence.

This is the context to consider elements of partnership based on aligning goals of its members and common understanding as to how to achieve them. The goals of GEP members – including China, India, Central Asian countries and other states – are primarily to increase stability of their economies in the short term and ultimately to be well-positioned in the emerging global economic system.

"The goals are clear and the way proposed by the President of the RF Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and unconditionally supported by all of us is multipolarity and alignment," emphasized Andrey Slepnev.

Such poles as the EAEU economy, Chinese economy, Indian economy and others should come up with a future cooperation mechanism. At the same time, speaking about the European Union the EEC Minister in charge of Trade noted tendencies towards its reduced level of independence.

"There are proposals to promote cooperation both on the SCO and BRICS platforms, including the possibility to expand this association. But then there is the question of the agenda because its refining is the key element. I guess what is important are the topics of physical infrastructure, or connectivity; the focus should also be on uniform settlements and an independent financial system, as well as technological sovereignty and cooperation in the context of the new technological paradigm and in the context of climate and digitalization," continued the EEC Minister.

Here he dwelled on such topics as integration projects promoted by the EAEU, decisions taken on the West – East corridor and debottlenecking at checkpoints.

 Andrey Slepnev especially highlighted the importance of the North – South corridor, which he called not just a transport project but a real economic corridor. It is important to talk about eliminating not only infrastructural but also logistical and regulatory constraints and about reduction of duties. In this regard, the EEC Minister raised the question of the practicability of a multilateral cooperation mechanism comprising the EAEU, Azerbaijan, Central Asian countries, India and Iran. 

Speaking about the settlements system Andrey Slepnev reminded that direct trading in the ruble – rial currency pair had already started and necessary decisions had been taken for settlements in national currencies with China. If earlier a payment system meant SWIFT as a universal platform, nowadays it is difficult to imagine any mono-decisions; what should be considered are mutual alignment, recognition and the use of national systems. 

Finally, the Minister commented on the topic of technology where technological sovereignty would ultimately determine state sovereignty. The related work is being done by all but his question was: does everybody individually have enough resources to make their economies truly competitive across the board? "The answer is obvious: most likely, we need to unite and opt for a model of competing technologies and their diversity and not of technological monopoly, which is imposed by key players today," believed Andrey Slepnev. 

The session was attended by Dmitry Volvach, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation; Kirill Barsky, Acting Head of the Department of Diplomacy at MGIMO, the MFA of Russia; Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank of Russia; Valentin Makarov, President of NCP "RUSSOFT"; Maxim Protasov, Head of ANO Russian Quality System; Alexander Shokhin, President of the RUIE. The discussion was moderated by Mikhail Petrov, editor-in-chief of TASS agency.

 On the sidelines of the forum, Andrey Slepnev also met with Jose Antonio Morato Tavares, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. During the meeting the parties discussed the state of trade and economic cooperation between Indonesia and the EAEU, as well as prospects for negotiating to conclude a free trade agreement.

 Moreover, the EEC Minister in charge of Trade talked to Ivan Polyakov, Chairman of the Russia-ASEAN Business Council, and Artem Sharov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hua Nuo E Xiang (VEB.RF Group), the Russian Trading Company in China.