President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov spoke today, on October 14, at a regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC) via videoconference.
According to the press service of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, the speech of the head of state says:
“ Dear Kassym-Joomart Kemelevich,
Dear members of the High Council!
I cordially welcome you to the next meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.
Glad to see you all in good health!
I express my gratitude to the Belarusian side, personally to the President of the Republic of Belarus, dear Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko, as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, dear Mikhail Vladimirovich Myasnikovich, and his team for the high technical and substantive organization of today’s meeting.
The Eurasian Economic Union is the most important regional integration association for the Kyrgyz Republic with an increasing potential for rapprochement between member states and ensuring sustainable development.
During the functioning of the Union, important positive economic changes have taken place and obstacles in the internal market of the EAEU are being overcome by joint efforts.
The phase of the formation of the Union has passed, but it must be admitted that the real rates of Eurasian economic integration could be higher.
In this regard, I consider it important to pay attention not only to promising directions for the development of integration, but also to work at the same time to strengthen and build on the already achieved successes of the Union.
And in this direction we have accumulated enough questions – the freedom of movement of goods and the problem of removing obstacles.
In this regard, in order to implement the task of eliminating obstacles set in our Strategy, it is necessary to develop an effective mechanism for automatically canceling the barrier when it is identified and the impossibility of its reapplication.
Particular attention should be focused on the quality of implementation and the timing of the implementation of agreements, the implementation of the law of the Union, as well as compliance with the deadlines for the implementation of planned activities.
In particular, this applies to the implementation of our Strategic Directions for the Development of Economic Integration until 2025.
Today we are faced with the task of not only returning to pre-pandemic growth rates, but also ensuring further intensive development.
Consistent integration steps will require great efforts from us, determination, political will, especially in the current realities.
I can say with confidence that the Kyrgyz Republic, attaching exceptional importance to comprehensive cooperation between our states, will continue to contribute to the further development of integration processes in the Union space.
Dear Colleagues,
The speed of global processes, the growth of natural disasters and shocks, the dynamics of changes in the world economy show that in the medium term we will face new realities of changes in the economy, climate and social structure.
The processes taking place in recent years prove that economics is no longer a classical understanding of economic and industrial relations, it is a new relationship of a person to the environment and society.
Embedding new directions and relationships within the Union in our economic integration will strengthen our position in the international arena in the short and long term.
It is clear that global changes towards low-carbon production will significantly affect the competitiveness of our economies.
And in this vein, the foreign trade, industrial, tax policies of our countries must be timely adapted to the upcoming transformations.
It is necessary to develop a consolidated position of the Union in matters of striving to achieve low-carbon development of our economies.
For our part, we express our readiness to provide a platform for discussing the climate agenda, both within the Union and in cooperation with other regional and universal international organizations.
Dear participants of the meeting,
The formation of common markets for gas, oil and oil products remains an important issue for further integration today.
Undoubtedly, these issues directly affect the energy security of our countries.
And one of the key goals of the formation of a common gas market for the Union is to meet the gas needs of the member states.
In this regard, we must ensure the timely commencement of the functioning of the common gas market, and the Kyrgyz Republic is in favor of adopting the draft international gas treaty agreed upon by all countries in real terms.
Dear Colleagues,
The agreement provides for strengthening the economies of the member states and ensuring their harmonious development and convergence. In this regard, we need to work out real instruments aimed at creating balanced conditions for development.
As you know, the economic crisis associated with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the adoption of restrictive measures have had a strong impact on the economy of the entire Union.
The consequences of this were an increase in the level of poverty due to falling incomes, unemployment, and, unfortunately, there is an even more significant gap between the economies of the member states of the Union.
To solve this problem, we need a systematic and meaningful study of mechanisms and target programs for the development of catching-up economies of the member states, aimed at converging the incomes of the population and leveling our economies.
In addition, it is necessary to introduce effective mechanisms for creating sustainable cooperation projects and localizing production in order to address import substitution issues based on the specifics of the economies of the member states.
I consider it very important to step up work in this direction.
Dear participants of the meeting,
Recently, we are constantly faced with either an excess or a shortage of food in our countries. Unfortunately, we do not have effective mechanisms and levers of influence on these phenomena.
Today, each country of the Union establishes its own mechanisms for ensuring food security, which leads to an independent solution of potential threats. At the same time, the possibilities and potential of the EAEU are not taken into account.
In this regard, I propose to focus on solving the problem of balanced and predictable behavior of market participants in order to exclude manipulations and price surges for sensitive and basic food products.
In the future, it is necessary to take joint practical measures to harmonize the regulatory framework on the protection of the internal market and import substitution to prevent the possible emergence of a shortage of food products and ensure complementarity.
This will be a serious step towards creating conditions for the formation of a coordinated, and in the future – towards a single agro-industrial policy.
Dear friends!
Completing the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union is a “living” complex process that includes various scenarios and rates of movement in accordance with the national interests of the member states.
Since its inception, our Union has been functioning against the background of changes in the global economy and the system of global decision-making, as well as measures of economic pressure exerted by third countries on the member states of the Union.
The scale of economic effects for the states of the Union directly depends on the degree and depth of integration processes, while insufficient integration can create risks and controversial situations.
Our Union must move towards strengthening and deepening our integration!
It is important to continue to make every effort to maintain stability and strengthen the economies of our countries.
Thank you for attention!”.
Source: Kyrgyz National News Agency
Last modified: October 14, 2021