Events

29 May 2019

Lukashenko attending EAEU summit in Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN, 29 May (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko is taking part in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, BelTA has learned.

The Belarusian leader was welcomed by Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Palace of Independence. After a photo ceremony the leaders launched the discussion of the agenda of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council session which is set to take place in the narrow and extended formats.

This year’s session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Nur-Sultan marks the fifth anniversary of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty and 25 years of the Eurasian integration idea. Taking part in the meeting are members of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council of the EAEU countries, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan, first Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. It is also expected that taking part in the session will be Moldova President Igor Dodon as the head of state-observer at the EAEU, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon as a guest of honor, and Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev.

The session was opened by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who stressed the contribution of the first president of Kazakhstan to the development of Eurasian integration. “Taking into account his historical contribution to the development of the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested awarding Nursultan Abishevich [Nazarbayev] with the title of the Honorary Chairman of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council,” he said. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed gratitude to the Russian leader for this initiative and also to all the union’s partners for its unanimous support.

The session is held under the chairmanship of Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the EAEU has been steadily developing, opening new opportunities for businesses and economies of its member states. The number of international partners continues growing. The prime minister cited an example of several countries which have either signed agreements with the union or are in talks on different issues of cooperation. Among them are China, Iran, Vietnam, Singapore, Egypt and Serbia. “I hope that the negotiations will bring positive results and open up new opportunities for our economies. Our goal today is to work on the further development of the EAEU, make it more efficient and attractive for our international partners,” he said.

According to the Eurasian Economic Commission, the agenda of the summit will cover issues of integration, macro economy, international economic cooperation with third countries, trade, power industry, customs regulation, financial policy, common services market, economy digitalization, industrial cooperation, and competition. The heads of state will review progress in the implementation of the digital agenda, major macroeconomic policy guidelines for 2019-2020, and other issues.

The parties are expected to sign a joint statement to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty, the international agreement on the EAEU common electricity market.