MINSK, 21 April (BelTA) – We have not yet managed to establish systematic work in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said in the State of the Nation Address on 21 April, BelTA has learned.
“We have been pinning hopes on the Eurasian Economic Union. We have reached many agreements to facilitate the movement of goods, capital, and labor, create equal economic conditions. All we had to do is to establish systematic work and move along the chosen path. We have not done this yet,” Alexander Lukashenko noted.
He pointed out that it is not that difficult to sign a free trade agreement between the EAEU and a certain country. “All this sounds quite good. However, it has turned out that it is a much more challenging task to work consistently to establish equal relations of mutual trust based on the agreements signed by the member states,” the head of state noted.
“We are constantly trying to settle our disputes. We criticize one another for dumping policies. We also have issues with distributing our common credit resources. We should understand one thing: the market of the Eurasian Economic Union is not a market of some country and the allies that have joined it. It is our common fully-fledged market, and by developing it we will manage to cope with any sanctions and successfully tackle our economic differences,” Alexander Lukashenko emphasized.
Protectionist measures have had negative influence on the EAEU causing a decline in the trade among its member states.
It was partially due to these measures that Belarus did not achieve its export targets in 2016. The country's GDP fell by several percentage points, the inflow of investments also dropped, the situation on the labor market deteriorated, and the real income of the population went down.
“There is one way out: we should roll up our sleeves and join our efforts to solve the pressing problems. The issues that we have been facing recently are not just a result of external factors, but also internal ones,” Alexander Lukashenko stressed.
