Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012

2011: Data and ReviewsNew integration milestone reached and Eurasian Economic Unionmoves aheadNovember 18, 2011The Presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed the Declaration onEurasian Economic Integration, and the Agreement on a Eurasian EconomicCommission and its functions. These documents should result in theestablishment of Eurasian Economic Union by 2015. Simplified regulation ofthe free movement of goods, services, capital, and labour that will be in forcewithin the Eurasian Economic Union is expected to increase trade flows andlead to a coherent currency and macroeconomic policy.The Declaration states that the transition to the next stage of integration – theSingle Economic Space – will begin on January 1, 2012. The Union will beestablished by 2015, when the existing legal base of the CU and SES will befully codified, the Declaration says. The EEC, which will operate from January 1,2012, will be responsible for the codification process. All the executive bodieswill be headquartered in Moscow for the first four years; Russian Industry MinisterViktor Khrystenko will head the EEC Board. The location of the executivebodies will be reviewed once the Eurasian Economic Union is established. TheEEC will take over from the Customs Union Commission on July 1, 2012. TheEEC will become the supranational authority managing integration within theCU and SES. It will have a two-tier structure with the Council (the upper tier),comprised of the three countries’ Deputy Prime Ministers, being responsiblefor resolving disagreements between members of the Board (the lower tier).The Board will become the EEC’s key executive power, responsible for settingduties, establishing sanitary, veterinary and migration controls and monitoringthe distribution of industrial and agricultural subsidies.Some businesses have not waited for the establishment of the Eurasian EconomicUnion to execute their integration plans. For example, Russia’s EuroChem isactively working towards the full-scale implementation of a $2 billion projectin Kazakhstan. LUKOIL plans to commission a large gas-processing complex inAktobe in Kazakhstan.EurAsEC Anti-Crisis FundEurAsEC ACF considers loan to ArmeniaJune 16, 2011Vedomosti, RBK Daily, Expert OnlineThe EurAsEC Anti-Crisis Fund is studying the prospects for restructuringArmenia’s gas and chemical industries. The Armenian government is pursuinga strategy to restore these industries’ positions in world markets, and hopesto attract financing from the ACF to implement the programme. Recently246 EDB Eurasian Integration Yearbook 2012