Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012

Natalia Maqsimchook. “Chronicle of EurasianRegional Integration 2011”2011: Data and ReviewsOctober 17, 2011According to the acting Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Omurbek Babanov, hiscountry would not be ready to join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus andKazakhstan by early 2012. The government filed a membership application andestablished a working group to discuss the details of Kyrgyzstan’s accessionwith “the working group that should have been established for this purpose bythe CU”, Babanov said. The working groups have many issues to discuss as apriority, including any grace period granted to Kyrgyzstan’s certain economicsectors as it enters the CU.November 23, 2011The Executive Secretary of the Customs Union Commission, Sergei Glazyev,noted that all the necessary technical work on the Kyrgyzstan’s accessionto the CU could be completed within the next year. According to Glazyev,the legal systems of Kyrgyzstan and the CU were similar enough to ensurethe process would not be prolonged. Technical equipment at Kyrgyzstan’sborder checkpoints and information exchange are currently two of the majorproblems.Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the CU will boost the development of the country’sagribusiness and energy system, which could become part of the commonenergy market, allowing for the construction of new hydropower plants and thedevelopment of associated industries, Glazyev said, adding that Kyrgyzstan’saccession to the CU would encourage growth of the republic’s economicpotential by at least 20-25%, and boost its attractiveness to investors.www.tsouz.ru, Expert OnlineCustoms control between Customs Union member states to be eliminatedfrom July 1May 20, 2011Kazakhstan assured Russia and Belarus that it will protect both states from goodsbeing imported cheaply into Kazakhstan. Therefore, customs control betweenthe three states will be abolished from July 1, 2011.Russia’s Federal Customs Service drafted a presidential decree on the transferof controls on the Russian-Belarusian and Russian-Kazakh borders to theexternal border of the CU starting July 1, and on the dissolution of 16 customsorganisations.Border transfer will eliminate customs controls between Russia, Kazakhstanand Belarus, as foreseen in the Customs Union founding documents. Customsclearance within the CU was abolished in July 2010, though the countriesagreed several temporary exclusions from the common customs territory, theEurasian Development Bank237