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THE INFORMAL SUMMIT OF THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY
LEONID VARDOMSKY,
Head of the Centre of the CIS and the Baltic States, the Institute for International Economic and Political Studies, the Russian Academy of Sciences
Eurasian Home: “Is there a chance for the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) to become a WTO analogue within the post-Soviet space?”
I believe it is not possible. EAEC is a regional economic Organization. While WTO is a global Organization elaborating rules of the world trade. Within the EAEC framework it is quite possible to work out institutions – standards and rules – of bilateral economic relations, but these have to base upon the WTO’s standards since all member-states claimed their intention to join WTO, with Kyrgyzstan already being its member since December 1998.
Eurasian Home: “What are the prospects of the Customs Union within the EAEC? Is it a viable project?”
When the Customs Union was created in 1995 by Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan it was not a viable project, so in 2000 it was restructured into the Eurasian Economic Community. Now the idea of the Customs Union is gaining ground again. The algorithm of Union’s formation has been specified at the summit in the city of Sochi (Russia): Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia will start the process, other countries will join them when ready. In my opinion Russia and Kazakhstan are better tuned in for the project – these countries are rather close in socioeconomic development and have come through economic and administrative reforms that have much in common.
As for the future expansion, it demands a kind of collective fund to provide financing of the less developed countries – after the switch to the free market pricing on gas many of the Kyrgyz, Tajik, Uzbek and Belarusian enterprises might go bankrupt. But for the time being neither Russia nor Kazakhstan are ready to create such a fund.
Genuine integration is always a costly initiative. In fine, as I see it, the EAEC can be a frame for simultaneous existing of several trading regimes - Free Trade Zone regulations, Customs Union regulations, et cetera. This is the best way to adapt the integration process to the reality in member-states. Put this way the project may be successful.
Eurasian Home: “What policy conducted by Russia towards the other EAEC member-states could contribute to the success of the integration project?”
Russian leaders must comprehend interests and capabilities of the EAEC member-states and Russia itself, find mechanisms to accommodate these interests and introduce appropriate forms of cooperation. Evidently this mechanism cannot be the same for Belarus and Tajikistan given different levels of development of these countries. It means that Russia’s policy must be differentiated and aimed at concrete results of cooperation.
August 22, 2006
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