Key integration mechanisms enabling the Eurasian Economic Union countries to transform external challenges into long-term growth points were outlined by Arzybek Kozhoshev, Minister in charge of Energy and Infrastructure of the Eurasian Economic Commission, at the session “Global Instability: Risks and Opportunities for the Region's Social and Economic Development” held as part of the 8th Kyrgyz-Russian Economic Forum.
As the EEC Minister noted, recent months clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of the global energy market. The escalation in the Middle East led to repeated sharp increases in oil prices due to a “risk premium,” which, according to expert estimates, reached 15–18% of pre-crisis levels during certain periods.
“This premium appears quickly, but it can disappear just as quickly, leaving behind not stability but another round of volatility,” Arzybek Kozhoshev emphasized.He reminded that in the spring this year, countries dependent on Middle Eastern supplies had to release tens of millions of barrels from their strategic reserves, and experts are already calling the current situation the fourth major supply shock to the global economy – after the COVID-19 pandemic, the geopolitical crisis, and the trade wars of 2025. As estimated by the EEC Minister, the Central Asian region strongly feels this vulnerability: obvious seasonality leads to a significant energy shortage in the winter, and basic needs for petroleum products and natural gas are largely covered by external supplies.
Arzybek Kozhoshev highlighted that, unlike most regional associations in the world, the Eurasian Economic Union had its own substantial electric power base. Five Union States account for 20% of the world’s natural gas reserves and extraction, 20% of the world’s coal reserves, 7% of the world’s oil reserves and 15% of global oil production, 21% of the world’s uranium reserves and 43% of global uranium production, and about 5% of global electric power generation; and the fuel and energy sector accounts for more than 30% of the EAEU’s industrial output.
According to Arzybek Kozhoshev, this is precisely the aim of establishing the EAEU common markets for electric power, oil, and petroleum products, which are expected to be launched in the next few years. This should ensure non-discriminatory, and equal access to energy resources for all economic entities within the Union.“The Union does not need to import basic energy resources from abroad; the only question is how efficiently we can establish mechanisms for their redistribution within the association,” the EEC Minister stated.
The EEC Minister identified the energy balance diversification — the search for an economically viable balance between traditional and renewable energy sources, including nuclear and hydropower, as well as the development of energy conservation and energy storage systems — as the second systemic response to instability. These directions are enshrined as a long-term priority in the “Eurasian Economic Path” Declaration, approved by the Union's Heads of State.
A separate section of the presentation was devoted to the transportation sector. Arzybek Kozhoshev noted that, against the background of transforming global supply chains and the trade diversion from the Persian Gulf, from sea to land, the EAEU and Central Asia, owing to their geographic location and transit potential, are capable of becoming a central element of the emerging Eurasian transport architecture.
Among the priority infrastructure projects, he mentioned the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway, the Trans-Caspian transport route, and the development of the North–South meridional corridor, emphasizing that key railway division points in Kazakhstan and Russia are already operating at full capacity.“When discussing international transport corridors, people often use such terms as “competition” and “rivalry.” I would rather say “complementarity” and “diversification.” Under current conditions, the more routes we have, the better,” the EEC Minister said.
Speaking about what is required for efficient logistics under these conditions, Arzybek Kozhoshev pointed out three areas of the Commission's activities: digitalization, in particular a pilot project to use the e-CMR electronic waybill for international road transport (Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan have already made about 90% of their mutual shipments paperless, and Kyrgyzstan is actively joining the process); coordination and harmonization of legislation – an Agreement on uniform weight and dimensional parameters of vehicles when traveling on key EAEU highways spanning more than 14,000 km came into effect in May this year; and the development of a mechanism to support priority integration infrastructure projects in the transportation sector, similar to the financial support mechanism for industrial and agro-industrial cooperation already in effect since 2024.
