The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has all possibilities of becoming one of the strong, independent and self-reliant poles of the multipolar world that is being formed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message addressed to heads of the EEU member states published on the website of the Kremlin on Monday.
The Russian leader noted that close integration within the union "has become a decent response to such global issues, which have intensified due to the pandemic and the illegal sanctions used by a number of countries, as poverty, climate changes, the shortage of resources, including the most important ones, food, water, energy".
"Obviously, the Union has all possibilities to become one of strong, independent, self-reliant poles of the multipolar world that is being formed, to be a center of attraction for all independent countries that share our values and look for cooperation with the EEU," Putin noted.
He recalled that since January 1, Russia has taken over the presidency of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
The Russian president generally praised the association's pace of development since its founding in 2015. The union "is developing steadily and clearly demonstrates its effectiveness and relevance," the address reads.
"The absolute volume of mutual trade of the union member states during this period increased by 60% and reached a historic high of $73.1 billion in 2021, while foreign trade increased by 46% to $846.3 billion. Each year the share of non-primary goods with high added value in the Union's domestic trade turnover increases. The growth of total GDP per capita amounted to 28.7%, and the share of payments in national currencies is close to 75%," said Putin.
Trade cooperation with foreign partners
The Russian president also noted the importance of the union's cooperation with foreign partners and the positive effect of free trade agreements with third countries. "We intend to contribute in every possible way to complete the ongoing work on similar agreements with Egypt, Iran and India, as well as to activate new negotiation tracks, including with Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates," he wrote.
According to Putin, "increasing exports of the Union's products and building new supply chains would help expand the geography of international ties and contacts" of the EEU with the Asian-Pacific, Middle Eastern, African and Latin American nations. "Our integration may play the role of one of the key centers of the Greater Eurasian Partnership formation," the Russian leader is sure.
The solution of all these large-scale tasks will require the improvement of established supranational institutions, primarily the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the address says. "In this connection we consider it necessary to expand its competence and consider the proposals concerning the delegation of more powers to the EEC. At the same time, all key decisions should, as before, be taken by consensus. This principle remains a basic value, a common achievement and a competitive advantage," explained Putin.
He noted that the peoples of the EEU member states have lived together for more than a thousand years and have jointly developed their geographical space. "Common understanding of the historical destiny, awareness of centuries-old economic ties, the preservation and strengthening of the cultural and social community of the peoples of the union is the key to the success of all our activities," said the Russian president.
"We count on close cooperation and support of the EEU member states in the practical implementation of the priorities of the Russian presidency in 2023. We are convinced that together we will achieve new significant results in the development of integration cooperation for the benefit of our peoples," the Russian leader concluded.
Long-term planning
Putin also urged the EEU members to start preparing new long-term plans for the period up to 2030 and 2045 as early as this year.
"We consider it reasonable <…> to start preparing new advance planning documents that will define the main vectors of integration cooperation through 2030 and 2045 as early as this year," he said, adding that Moscow will "do everything possible to facilitate further deepening of integration in all areas, including the political, economic, industrial, financial and technological fields."
"Obviously, the development of technological potential of the EEU member states, the achievement of true independence and self-reliance in this area are to become one of the main strategic priorities of the joint work. We suggest that efforts be integrated in the development and introduction of cutting-edge scientific and technical solutions into leading sectors of the economy, such as cars and chemical industry, transport machine building, microelectronics, aircraft construction, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals industry, digital ecosystems, alternative energy, agriculture machine building, biotechnology and seed breeding," Putin noted.
He drew attention to the fact that "one of the key aspects of the integration cooperation is the training of skilled personnel and creation of new jobs." According to the president, "the Eurasian labor market should meet the challenges of large-scale development of high-tech industries and the introduction of digital technologies in manufacturing processes," so "it is important to seek the harmonization of national scientific and technical programs, development of common educational and professional standards, the launch of joint training programs and common textbooks in engineering and humanitarian disciplines."
Also, Putin pointed out, it is necessary "to develop the practice of interuniversity internships and academic exchanges." "And in general, humanities issues - issues of education, culture and sports - should not remain on the periphery of our integration. Of course, we need to actively promote the Eurasian Economic Union, its achievements and opportunities for all citizens of our countries," summed up the Russian leader.
Interaction of national payment systems
The Russian president also stressed the importance of cooperation between national payment systems of the EEU countries to reduce economic risks.
"A consistent reduction of economic risks for mutual trade created by the use of foreign currencies and payment systems seems to be a relevant task. We assume that partners connecting to the financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia and the development of interworking of national payment systems are essential conditions for stable payment relations inside the Union," he said in a message addressed to heads of the EEU members on the occasion of Russia’s chairmanship in the integration in 2023 published on the website of the Kremlin on Monday.
According to Putin, the harmonization of financial markets "should create favorable conditions for making sure that the capital of countries remain inside the integration and is invested in national economies." "Moreover, we consider it reasonable to explore the possibility of establishing a Eurasian rating agency that would provide rating instruments for servicing the growing economic activity on the territory of our macroregion," the Russian leader added.
Of course, we need to actively promote the Eurasian Economic Union, its achievements and opportunities for all citizens of our countries," summed up the Russian leader.
Cooperation between national payment systems
The Russian president also stressed the importance of cooperation between national payment systems of the EEU countries to reduce economic risks.
"The consistent reduction of economic risks, which the use of foreign currencies and payment systems creates for mutual trade, seems to be an urgent task. We proceed from the fact that an indispensable condition for stable settlement relations within the union is to connect partners to the financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia and develop inter-system cooperation between national payment systems," says the Russian president in his address to the leaders of the EEU on the occasion of Russia's presidency in the union in 2023.
According to Putin, the harmonization of financial markets "should create favorable conditions for the countries' capital to stay within the union and invest in the national economies." "In addition, we consider it advisable to study the possibility of establishing a Eurasian rating agency, which would provide assessment tools to serve the growing economic activity in our macro-region," the Russian leader added.
According to him, further deepening of integration cooperation will also largely depend on the alignment of competitive conditions for enterprises of the Union, including through the convergence of tax regulation, introduction of advanced methods of tax administration, as well as unification of customs procedures with the use of risk management systems at external borders.
Other areas of cooperation
Putin paid special attention to intensifying cooperation in the field of digital transformation. Thus, the launch of the EEU Integrated Information System and supranational product circulation monitoring systems will allow identifying and remove unsafe and low-quality products from the Union market, the Russian leader noted. According to him, it is necessary to speed up the process of coordinated introduction of electronic legally significant documents in the Union member states by providing legal and technological conditions for mutual recognition of such documents. "It is important that digital technologies and solutions in the field of economic activity are implemented in all EEU countries on the basis of common principles and approaches, which it is advisable to fix by a separate act of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council," pointed out the Russian leader.
He also pointed out that the countries of the association "have a strong agro-industrial base, allowing not only a guaranteed supply of all necessary agricultural products, but also export of food in large quantities." In order to strengthen food security, Russia proposes to jointly develop a broad set of measures aimed at further development of the agricultural sector, the president added.
Putin noted that the EEU traditionally leads in the energy sector as well. "Undoubtedly, the work on creating common energy markets should be further implemented on a systematic and verified basis. Possession of the most advanced technologies of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes will help confidently solve the problem of the energy transition," he is convinced.
According to the Russian president, the work on formation of new transport and logistics infrastructure fully corresponding to the modern economic realities should be continued. "The development of seamless, safe international transport corridors connecting the EEU member states is of particular importance today," Putin concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS