BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/05/2006

Minsk to host Eurasian Economic Community's meetings this week

Sessions of the Eurasian Economic Community's (EurAsEC) Interstate Council and Integration Committee will be held in Minsk on 18-19 May, with common customs policies to be under discussion, Vasily Pugachev, Belarus' first minister of foreign affairs, told reporters in Minsk on Wednesday.

The heads of government of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Tajikistan are expected to take part. The fifth member of the EurAsEC, Kyrgyzstan, is to be represented by the authorized representative of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev for integration.

Aleksandr Lukashenko, who chairs the Interstate Council this year, suggested discussing the possibility of setting a single customs duty, the implementation of the 2004-2005 plan of the EAES's priority activities and ways of establishing an efficient regional organization, Mr. Pugachev said.

Participants also will consider efforts to create a legal framework for common customs policies and discuss steps that each EurAsEC member separately takes to join the World Trade Organization.

Also on the agenda is Uzbekistan's bid to accede to the treaty on the formation of the EurAsEC. Mr. Pugachev said that the bid is evidence of the alliance's advantages.

On 23 and 24 June, Minsk will host a meeting of the EurAsEC heads of state, as well as a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

Source:

http://news.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=10898