MINSK, 27 June (BelTA) – Member states of the Eurasian Economic Union should focus on the most pressing issues for the union, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the expanded-format meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk on 27 June, BelTA learned.
During his speech at the summit, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he wants to dwell on several things that require special attention given the current situation.
Operation of the EAEU market
“Amid the tariff war and the reformatting of international trade, it is necessary to study whether export tariff experiments of other countries disadvantage domestic producers within the union and whether our spending behavior benefits businesses from third countries to the detriment of our entrepreneurs and companies,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
He asked the Eurasian Economic Commission to assess the risks for the economies of the member countries and submit proposals for joint action. “This issue is becoming increasingly relevant. We must protect our domestic markets the same way others do, taking into consideration our interests,” the Belarusian leader said.
Making the most of the EAEU industrial potential
“The EAEU market for the processing industry products is estimated at over $1 trillion. The figure is good, but what is behind it? Last year, we launched a mechanism to support industrial cooperation and allocated funds for that. But, unfortunately, there is no result yet,” the president remarked.
The head of state recalled that in January, two projects worth $17 million were finally approved - the production of railroad switches and combine harvester cabins. “It is funny even to mention these projects. More decisive steps are needed to create advanced production facilities, especially in industries dominated by Western corporations: pharmaceuticals, aircraft, shipbuilding, automotive industry, microelectronics,” the Belarusian leader is convinced.
Food security
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that every country needs to be food secure. According to him, this year an alarming situation has emerged in the EAEU countries, when they had to open their markets for imported products in order to stabilize prices for certain goods. However, the president believes that indicative planning is not enough to eliminate the problem.
“By the way, this includes those goods that we can produce in abundance and sell around the world. The Commission needs to come up with a comprehensive solution to avoid chaos and emergencies, to provide people with vegetables, apples, butter, sugar, meat products,” the head of state remarked.
He added that the list of tasks for the EAEU can go on. Thus, tangible results are needed in digital development – electronic signatures should finally be put in place. It is also necessary to more actively engage in promoting a common exchange space and deal with remaining issues in the field of technical regulation.
“At the same time, the detailed oversight of these issues by the country leaders should not overshadow or replace the proactive work of the Eurasian Economic Commission. This matter has been discussed a lot today, including efficiency, the schedule, the salaries of the EEC members. And a decision was made on these issues. In this regard, the litmus test measuring the efficiency of the commission will be the development of a roadmap to implement the Eurasian Economic Path declaration or EAEU 2.0 as we call it, as well as the implementation of the Eurasian Economic Integration Strategy until 2025. Particular attention was paid to this. We have identified one and a half dozen out of 300 [tasks] that we must fulfill by the end of the year. The commission has assured us that this will be done,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
The president expects that a detailed report by the chairman of the EEC Board will be presented at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the end of this year.
“Belarus is determined to make every effort to promote the ideas of Eurasian economic integration,” the head of state added.