After having a number of bilateral meetings, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took part in the sessions of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in narrow and expanded formats.
Presidents of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan took part in the session held in a narrow format. Besides, the session in an expanded format was also attended by President of the Republic of Moldova Igor Dodon as head of the observer state to the EAEU, as well as guests of honor - President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong.
In his speech, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev thanked the Armenian side for the warm welcome and the high level of preparation for the meeting. The Head of State expressed confidence that the Eurasian Economic Union has become one of the important links in the development of world trade.
The President of Kazakhstan stressed that the rapidly changing market conditions, growing competition between the powers, trade wars, growth of protectionism lead to instability of the world economy.
“In difficult global conditions it is extremely important for us to support sustainable economic growth of our states. It is possible only through real and mutually beneficial cooperation, integration and cooperation. Our countries should continue to remove barriers in the common domestic market,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev underscored.
The Head of State urged to intensify work on the removal of trade barriers.
“I believe that the Commission can and should strengthen the tools for monitoring national legislation, develop an effective mechanism for informing and explaining the current law within the Eurasian Economic Union,” the President of Kazakhstan said.
Noting the results achieved in the transport and logistics cooperation of the Eurasian Economic Union, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed the EEC and governments to accelerate the development of a single transit system of the EAEU, as well as to create attractive conditions for the development of advanced technologies.
“There is a steady increase in the volume of export-import and transit operations within China-Europe-China route. Transcontinental railway route Vietnam-China-Kazakhstan-Europe has been launched, and it solves logistics issues for the promotion of our products to the ASEAN countries’ markets. This transport corridor will be a good alternative to sea transportation and will allow deliver goods from Southeast Asia to Europe through the territory of the EAEU member states in the shortest possible time,” the Head of State stressed.
The key item on the SEEC session’s agenda was the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of Singapore, which opens a large ASEAN region with a population of 600 million people for the EAEU countries. In this regard, the President of Kazakhstan stressed the importance of developing trade and economic relations with new growing markets and maintaining a high pace of negotiations in this direction.
“A promising trend is seen in building ties between the EAEU and major international organizations such as ASEAN, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and others. Today, during the session of the Supreme Council, the Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of Singapore was signed. Singapore, along with Vietnam, is the second country with which the EAEU will have a respective agreement. An important issue is the development of trade, economic and logistics cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
Following the SEEC session, Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev awarded Chairman of the EEC Tigran Sargsyan with the Order of Dostyk (Friendship) of the II degree.
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In total, 20 documents were adopted by the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Yerevan.
Decisions:
1. On the Eurasian Economic Forum;
2. On the Chairman of the EEC Board;
3. On personal structure and distribution of duties between members of Board of the Eurasian economic Commission;
4. On the statement of the size of the duty paid by economic entities at the appeal to court of EAEU;
5. On amendments to the Decision of the Supreme Eurasian economic Council on 10 October 2014 No. 79;
6. On the EEU budget execution report for 2018;
7. On the EAEU budget for 2020;
8. On the main directions of international activity of the EAEU for 2020;
9. On the concept of formation of the common financial market of the EAEU;
10. On the statement of the order of repayment of debts of the EAEU member states on payment of share contributions to the EAEU budget;
11. On early termination of powers of a member of the EEC Board;
12. Appointment of a member of the EEC Board;
13. On modification of Appendix No. 1 to regulations of work of EEC;
14. On amendments to the Regulation on the Council for agro-industrial policy of the EAEU.
Orders:
1. On the issues connected with standards of distribution of the amounts of import customs duties between budgets of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union;
2. On harmonization of the legislation of the EAEU member states in the field of gas transportation and supply between the member states;
3. The time and venue of the next meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council.
Acts:
1. On signing of the Protocol on modification of the Treaty on EAEU of May 29, 2014 regarding fixing of new standards of distribution of the amounts of import customs duties;
2. On signing of the Protocol on modification of the Treaty on the EAEU of May 29, 2014 regarding possibility of recognition by advance payments of means (money);
3. On signing of the Protocol on amendments to the Treaty on the EAEU of May 29, 2014 in terms of technical, customs, transport regulation, sanitary, phytosanitary measures, information exchange, macroeconomics, competition and energy.
