26 May 2022 09:44

EAEU should assume dominant role amid global changes - Kyrgyz PM

BISHKEK. May 26 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should become a political union and assume a dominant role amid changes worldwide and a shift of the economic center of gravity to the Asian continent, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov said.

"The EAEU should become a model of an economic commonwealth evolving into a political union. The civilizational shift from West to East is ongoing. The economic center of gravity is shifting to the Asian contingent. If the window into Europe is closes, it means that a window into Asia opens. We are becoming witnesses of unprecedented changes, where our union should assume its dominant role," Japarov said at the opening of the First Eurasian Economic Forum in Bishkek on Thursday.

In conditions of globalization, persistent crises in the world's financial and economic system and its turbulence, integration processes become even more relevant and meaningful, he said.

"States which are unified by common activities, common interests and objectives perform in the global economy more successfully, gaining a real competitive edge. The mutual advantages of the union for its member countries are obvious. We have enormous potential for further integration," the Kyrgyz prime minister said.

Japarov said that EAEU programs are among the key instruments of integration and help fill production enterprises with orders, create additional jobs, and increase exports to a large number of countries worldwide.

"For the Eurasian integration projects, the development of its own market by boosting the competitiveness of the countries' manufacturers is the minimum objective, while the maximum objective is to strengthen the positions on the foreign market," Japarov said.

The EAEU countries have restored their GDP to the "pre-pandemic" level, he said.

"The GPD of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia has already bounced back to the pre-pandemic level, growing in 2021 by 2.3%, 4%, and 4.2%, respectively. The GDP of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan grew by 4.1% and 3.6%, respectively," he said.

In the first half of 2021, the EAEU's GDP grew by 4.5%, the gross added value in the construction sector increased by 5%, in the agricultural sector by 0.05%, and in industry by 4.1%, while capital investment grew by 5.7%, Japarov said.

"Positive dynamics in mutual trade is being observed. With the tendencies that formed in 2021 in place, the volume of foreign trade increased by 42.5%, reaching $500 billion, a record high since 2015, while the volume of mutual trade topped $70 billion and reached a new all-time high, growing by 32.4%," the Kyrgyz prime minister said.

The trade flows of the EAEU member states are now being re-oriented, he said.

"The European Union's share in the EAEU's foreign trade dropped from 46.2% in 2015 to 36.7% in 2020. Meanwhile, the share of countries of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the EAEU's foreign trade grew over this period from 29.6% to 36.4% and from 16.3% to 24.1%," he said.

Japarov also noted an improvement of the budget balances in the majority of the EAEU countries in January-September 2021. This was due to "the intensive growth of budget revenue amid the moderate increase of state expenditures. In 2021, the exchange rates of the member countries' national currencies against the U.S. dollar remained at a higher level than before the [Covid-19] pandemic," he said.