EAEU successfully confronts unprecedented challenges of collective West

The Forum moderator Sergei Glazyev - Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission - has emphasized that the Eurasian Economic Union has securely passed through pandemic challenges and is now successfully developing, despite the sanctions against Belarus and Russia. He added that the Strategy-2025 approved in 2020 by the heads of the EAEU states is being implemented strictly according to plan.

"Our integration association has proven to be very effective, combining the competitive advantages of the participating countries. We are successfully developing mutual trade without losing pace. Trade with countries outside the EAEU is also progressing. Exports grew by almost one and a half times, this year we also expect growth. In the face of sanctions, foreign trade has not sunk very much this year. We are rapidly increasing trade with our southern and eastern neighbors, especially China and India," Sergei Glazyev said.

According to Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the EEC Board, the economies of the EAEU countries are operating in unprecedentedly difficult conditions due to sanctions and other unfriendly actions against the states and enterprises of the Union. In this situation, we have to find new options for the development of economies. And, first of all, we must pay attention to investment activity.

"Credit resources are expensive and not enough. Fixed assets are aging, we have very few new ones. If we do not change the situation, tomorrow it will be even worse," the head of the EEC Board said. "The Commission has prepared concrete proposals on measures to support and finance cooperative projects in the EAEU. We believe that serious subsidizing of interest rates on loans is needed. We propose to consider 3+ model as integration projects, i.e. representatives of at least three states must participate in these projects. Around 10% of the collected special, anti-dumping and countervailing duties could be allocated for these purposes. Last year, this amount was about 200 million US Dollars. We have to determine the priority sectors and activities and, first of all, pay attention to microelectronics, pharmaceuticals and aircraft engineering."

The second factor in accelerating economic growth, according to Mikhail Myasnikovich, is the promotion of scientific and technological development.

"To trade effectively, we need to have competitive goods and services based on up-to-date technology, and their creation requires fundamental knowledge," he stated.

The third key area, according to Mikhail Myasnikovich, is the formation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership and joined efforts with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for the development of the transport and logistics sector.

In his turn, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin announced the intensification of interaction between the business community and the EEC, especially in the work on the creation of Eurasian companies.

"The elaboration of a legal status of Eurasian corporations in the 3+ format will allow the formation of a new class of legal entities. They will be able to implement complex but promising high-tech projects, for example, in the field of microelectronics," Alexander Shokhin emphasized.

He also expressed the opinion that we need to digitize payment and settlement relations as quickly as possible and pilot novel payment instruments.

Vladimir Ivin, Deputy Head of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, in his turn, singled out three key customs areas: stepping up work on amending the EAEU Customs Code, developing the EAEU transit potential, and elaboration of common measures to regulate exports.

The Minister in charge of Energy and Infrastructure of the EEC Arzybek Kozhoshev stated that energy capacities and transport corridors should become the fundamental basis for the prosperity and well-being of the Union countries.

"It is important to focus on the East-West combined transit transport corridors in the direction of the Middle East and India, expand cooperation in the Caspian Sea region, and work out the issue of using the infrastructure potential within the North-South transport corridor and the Trans-Caspian route," the EEC Minister believes..

EEC Minister in charge of Technical Regulation Viktor Nazarenko announced the need to create a Eurasian product quality assurance system in the EAEU. According to him, the Commission is taking serious measures to protect the market from dangerous products. At the same time, it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of all the countries of the Union.

"Our products must not only be safe, but also have high quality, be competitive, so that they could be supplied to the markets of third countries," Viktor Nazarenko said.

Business representatives expressed their proposals for working in the current economic conditions.

Aleksey Grom, CEO of JSC "United Transport and Logistics Company - Eurasian Railway Alliance" spoke about the development of this unique integration project of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. At the present time, the company has more than 550 routes, the transit time between the borders of the EAEU and the EU and China is six days, while the cargo safety indicator reaches 99.99%. He added that the work of the Commission, in particular on the introduction of navigation seals, significantly contributes to the development of the Eurasian transport infrastructure.

Aleksey Rakhmanov, General Director of United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC, took notice of the problems that arose with the imposition of sanctions and the opportunities that open up in connection therewith. 

“Inland waterways open up huge opportunities for us. We have started to design full container ships. They will allow us to deliver cargo from the south of the Caspian Sea to St. Petersburg in eight days," noted Aleksey Rakhmanov.

At the plenary session, video messages were delivered by: Chairman of the EEC Council, First Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic Adylbek Kasymaliev, member of the EEC Council, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Igor Petrishenko, and Director of LVO LLC (Republic of Belarus) Oleg Kondratenko, Head of Rosstandart Anton Shalaev, and others.

The forum was organized by the Scientific Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on complex issues of Eurasian economic integration, modernization, competitiveness and sustainable development, ANO for the promotion of economic activity of entrepreneurs "Alpha Corporation".