On Friday Armenia became a full-fledged member of the Eurasian Economic Union, a trade bloc, which includes Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
In accordance with the agreement signed in October, 2014, Yerevan is to cross over to the integrated customs tariff of the EEU by 2022.
In May, 2015 Kyrgyzstan is expected to become the fifth participant of the Union.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a treaty to establish the Eurasian Economic Union on May 29 in Astana. Armenia joined on October 10, while Kyrgyzstan signed its accession treaty on December 23.
The treaty, set to replace its Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, came into force on January 1, 2015.
The Eurasian Economic Union builds on the foundations of these initiatives, with integration efforts spanning trade, energy, industry and competition and transport regulations. Policymakers in the region have envisioned an economic bloc with the free movement of goods, services and labor. Like the European Union, the Eurasian Economic Union provides a large-scale bureaucratic structure, which includes more than 23 different departments. The Eurasian Economic Union requires unanimity for major decisions, but like the Customs Union the new bloc leaves much room for informal political bargaining and exemptions based on domestic economic and political considerations.
It is commonly believed that the Eurasian Economic Union is part of Russia’s attempt to create buffer zones in the former Soviet Union in which Russian influence is entrenched and other powers — particularly the West — are kept out.
Negotiations on joining the EEU with a number of states (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) are in progress.
www.belsat.eu/en, following BelTA, Stratfor
