BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

23/06/2006

Belarus head criticizes slow efforts on Customs Union creation

The EurAsEC member states should bend every effort to complete interstate procedures aimed to draft documents for the legal basis of the Customs Union in 2006. And to sign them in the first half of 2007, president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said today at the meeting of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community held in Minsk.

According to the Belarusian leader, at present there are several serious issues in the EurAsEC activities, which arouse anxiety. "First of all, the matter concerns creation of the full-fledged Customs Union. Frankly speaking the process is not so fast, as we would like it to be. Unfortunately within the year we have not achieved progress in forming the single customs tariff as well. I think that the governments of the EurAsEC member states fail to work on this issue to the maximum", Alexander Lukashenko underlined.

He has noted that creation of the EurAsEC Customs Union much depends on coordination of positions of the community member states on joining the WTO. However, the parties have not reached full agreement on this issue, the Belarusian leader said.

Alexander Lukashenko supported the president of Kazakhstan, who stressed the necessity to set up the EurAsEC commission to control honoring of the treaties concluded by the member states. According to the Belarusian leader, such commission could be also involved in forming the single customs tariff, pursuing the single foreign economic policy, ensuring free movement of goods and formulating the single energy policy.

Source:

http://business.uzreport.com/mir.cgi?lan=e&id=13666