MINSK, 2 June (BelTA) - The Eurasian Economic Union did not stop working on promoting the integration even during the difficult time of the global coronavirus pandemic, and its economic growth may exceed the pre-pandemic levels soon, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Mikhail Myasnikovich said in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS, BelTA has learned.
Mikhail Myasnikovich is convinced that the Eurasian Economic Union is on track for economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A number of EAEU countries reported the GDP growth in Q1 2021. For example, Belarus posted the industrial production growth at 9%, Kazakhstan at 7.5%, Russia at about 2%. Agricultural production is on the rise while the unemployment is decreasing. Intra-EAEU trade has been growing, by 17% in Q1 2021 year-on-year. The trade with non-CIS countries rose by 3.9%.
Wages have been on the rise in the EAEU too. In Q1, real wages increased by 5.4%in Belarus, by 7.4% in Kazakhstan, 1.6% in the Russian Federation. All this suggests that the measures taken in the Eurasian Economic Union have been effective, Mikhail Myasnikovich said.
The EAEU aims for advanced development, as is envisaged in the EAEU development strategy until 2025. We have drawn up a fairly detailed plan of action to implement the strategy. It suggests making many changes to the current EAEU treaty. We are also planning to draft and adopt about 50 international treaties that will strengthen our integration cooperation, Mikhail Myasnikovich said.
“By the end of 2025, the EAEU is set to achieve the annual GDP growth of 4-4.5%, which is higher than the current one. Of course, the pandemic had a negative impact on the economic growth of the EAEU countries in 2020. But I think that we will be able to meet the economic growth target by 2025. For this we need to ramp up the production of competitive goods, in demand both domestically and internationally. We need serious progress in innovations and investments, productivity and competitiveness of national economies and products," Mikhail Myasnikovich said.
