The Eurasian Economic Union is a success after five years

The Eurasian Economic Union has been well established over the course of five years since the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty was signed, BelTA learned from Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Tigran Sargsyan after a session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on 29 May.

The official said: “The first five years are described as successful. The union has matured. As a supranational body the [Eurasian Economic] Commission is well established. International recognition testifies to that. But certainly there is still a lot of things to do, which should make our work more effective.”

During the session Tigran Sargsyan also drew attention to the implementation of the digital agenda, which had been mentioned in many speeches by the heads of state. “For the first time within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union we've devised a structure of our digital agenda, which will allow our countries to fully realize their digital sovereignty on an equal basis. The ten projects we are going to launch and the ecosystem we are forming give this unique opportunity to our countries to not only consume the technological solutions offered by global transnational corporations but also to have our own digital products, which are related to all spheres of economic activities of our union,” Tigran Sargsyan said.

In turn, during the final briefing for mass media Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan mentioned it was symbolic that the anniversary summit was held in the city where the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty had been signed five years before. “Certainly, there are some items on the agenda, which need reconciliation and specification. But we've agreed our governments will continue working on them,” he said.

The anniversary session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council was timed to the 5th anniversary of the signing of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty and the 25th anniversary of Eurasian integration. In the second part of the session the EAEU heads of state were joined by Moldova President Igor Dodon as the head of state of an observer country, by Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon as a guest of honor, and by Sergei Lebedev, Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, CIS Executive Secretary.

Apart from that, the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev was also present during the session. He is now an honorary chairman of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. In this capacity he will be able to participate in sessions of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, present his views on items on the agenda, and submit proposals on matters concerning the union's operation and development.

The agenda included matters of integration, macroeconomics, international economic cooperation with third countries, trade, power engineering, customs regulations, financial policy, the common market of services, digitization of the Eurasian Economic Union economies, industrial cooperation, competition, and a number of other matters.

Members of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council passed a joint statement on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of signing the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty. They also adopted an international agreement on forming the common electricity market of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The implementation of the digital agenda was also discussed as well as the main guidelines on macroeconomic policy of the Eurasian Economic Union in 2019-2020 and other matters.