Leaders of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus met here on Thursday to sign a treaty to establish the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a common market of 170 million people and a combined gross domestic product valued at 2.7 trillion dollars.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev hosted President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus at a grandiose ceremony at Astana's Palace of Independence.
Addressing almost 1,000 assembled guests including the presidents of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, which are also in the talks about joining the new group, all three leaders called the signing of the treaty an historical, epochal event, reported the Astana Times.
The signing of the treaty, which must be ratified by the three parliaments before entering into force scheduled for January 1, 2015, heralds a "qualitatively new development stage of integration on the Eurasian space," President Nazarbayev told the audience which also included officials from the three countries and members of the Parliament of Kazakhstan.
The treaty is well-balanced, reasonable, and responds to all interests of the new union member states, he said, adding that the EEU is based on the principles of economic pragmatism, equality, and respect for the sovereignty of member states. The document reflects all basic aspects related to international organisations and follows all principles of sovereign equality of states as well as respect for specific features of political order of the member states, Nazarbayev explained.
"A new economic organisation, having the rights of subject of the international law in full and acting on the basis of principles of the World Trade Organization, appears on the world stage," Putin said in his remarks. "It is important to note that providing certain authorities to supranational bodies will bring absolutely no harm to sovereignty of our counties."
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According to all three presidents, the road to signing the treaty was very complicated.
"Naturally, this journey included arguments which, despite all complexities involved, have been solved by consensus," Putin explained.
According to all three leaders, signing the treaty is an important milestone, yet, a tremendous amount of effort and work is still required to activate and successfully operate the integration mechanisms it sets forth. Reaching the stage of the signing was not an easy task too, as the 900-page treaty has 4 sections, 28 chapters, 118 articles and 32 annexes.
President Nazarbayev underlined that working on the body of the treaty involved many years of dedicated work of the governments and experts, explaining that it now reflects interest of and will benefit all citizens of the member states.
This was made possible due to gradual nature of the integration process, he explained. The union was not created overnight but is a result of a 20-year-long journey through the Eurasian Economic Community, the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space, he explained.
Indeed, as noted by both Nazarbayev and Putin, the idea of the Eurasian Economic Union gestated for more than 20 years since it was first proposed by the Kazakh President in his famous speech at Lomonosov Moscow State University in March 1994.
"The signing of this treaty is a notable contribution of the three countries to the chronicles of Eurasian integration. This will provide impetus to the course and dynamics of the developmental processes in the Eurasian space," President Nazarbayev said.
The statistics of such integration so far proves the benefits of the integration processes. Since the beginning of the integration processes, Kazakhstan's trade turnover with Russia and Belarus increased by 88 per cent reaching USD 24 billion, while exports to Russia and Belarus grew by 63 per cent, making the exports reach USD 6 billion.
According to Putin, over the past three years, trade within the Customs Union grew almost 50 percent, by USD 23 billion, reaching USD 66.2 billion in 2013. Taken together, Belarus and Kazakhstan are Russia's third largest trading partner, following the EU and China.
"Let us compare: our [annual] trade with the EU is USD 440 billion, while with China it is USD 87 billion. Belarus and Kazakhstan have far smaller economies than those two colossuses of the world economy, yet they are Russia's third largest trading partner," Putin added. "This speaks to the fact that we are reaching such parameters [in trade] in greater part thanks to the integration processes."
The presidents also noted that the provisions of the treaty ensure stability and opportunities for growth for businesses and provide for stable markets.
"We will not allow any member state to be subject to de-industrialisation as a result of the integration process.We will take into account the lessons learnt from the European Union," President Nazarbayev said.
"The integration itself does not guarantee prosperity, but will require overcoming new challenges and fulfilling new tasks," he added.
The EEU is an open community serving as a bridge between Europe and Asia, the Kazakh leader noted. In fact, the EEU may soon welcome new members as Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are both in advanced stage of negotiations over their accession to the EEU.
Putin also noted that the member states agreed to continue negotiations with Vietnam on creating a free trade zone and to strengthen cooperation with China, including in the area of exchange of customs information on goods and services. They also intend to create expert groups on developing preferential trade regimes with Israel and India.
The Astana Times quoted officials, as saying that the EEU will have its headquarters in Moscow, while the newly created Eurasian Court to settle disputes will be located in Minsk and Almaty will be developed as a financial centre for the EEU.
In addition to facilitating economic growth, the EEU provides a favourable ground for the development of humanitarian ties in the area of science, education, and tourism.
The three leaders expressed their trust in the ability of the new union to create the most favourable conditions for development of the three nations' economies, as well as to provide security and prosperity for the people of the member states.
At a media briefing following the signing ceremony, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintayev yet again emphasised the economic nature of the union. He also explained that any discussions of further integration steps, such as creating a financial union or a currency union are premature at this stage and there had not been any talk about such steps in recent negotiations.