NUR-SULTAN – The prime ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states have adopted and approved July 17 a number of multilateral initiatives such as comprehensive action plan aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus in the EAEU, interstate program for the production and provision of space and geoinformation products and services, maps of the agro-industry development and industrialization of the EAEU. This was the first offline meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The prime ministers of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) during the July 17 Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting. L-R: Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Council Chair and Belarusian Prime Minister (PM) Roman Golovchenko, Kazakh PM Askar Mamin, Kyrgyz PM Kubatbek Boronov, Russian PM Mikhail Mishustin, and Eurasian Economic Commission chair Mikhail Myasnikovich. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.
Established in 2014 the EAEU is an international organization of regional economic cooperation оf Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
The council has approved a comprehensive action plan in the field of healthcare, sanitation and the epidemiological well-being of the population to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, as well as other infectious diseases. The countries agreed to exchange information, implement a coordinated response to infectious disease outbreaks and develop recommendations for laboratory research.
The council also has adopted the first interstate program among EAEU countries in the field of space services. The program will combine the data of Earth Remote Sensing satellites and create a single database of space imagery. The council anticipated that the program would be implemented in the period 2021 -2025.
The prime ministers have approved the maps of the agro-industry development, a document destined to develop agro-industry in the EAEU. The map will form an information resource collecting data on large investment and innovation projects worth over $10 million that will supply the common agricultural market with products produced in the member states. This will eliminate duplication of production and monitor development trends in the EAEU.
According to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) press service, the map will ensure “the effective use of the capabilities of partner countries in the union, the implementation of import substitution and integration potential when organizing a system for sustainable development of the agro-industrial complex and the common agricultural market.”
Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin (L) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) discussing bilateral relations. Photo credit: primeminister.kz.
The council instructed the EEC and the EAEU member states to develop an industrialization map of the EAEU. The council proposed to include 178 large projects in 18 industries with an investment volume of around $200 billion.
“This will allow producers and government agencies of the parties to see each other’s plans and correct them in a timely manner,” the EEC press service said.
The Council also agreed that electronic customs operations between the EAEU countries will no longer require paper stamps from March 1, 2021.
Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin also met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, reported primeminister.kz. The parties discussed prospects of bilateral cooperation in trade, economy, agriculture, digitization, industrial cooperation, as well as interaction within the EAEU.
In addition to this, despite the pandemic, $1 billion in trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Belarus is “quite achievable” and “practically close to the real figure,” said Eurasian Intergovernmental Council Council Chair and Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, reported Belarus Sputnik news.
Mamin also had bilateral meetings with Golovchenko and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The Eurasian Intergovernmental Council will have its next meeting in October in Yerevan, Armenia.
