2023-05-24 22:11:46
On the eve of the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, the leaders of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) arrived in Moscow for the Eurasian Economic Forum of the same name. At Zaryadye, President Vladimir Putin was visited by almost the same guests who just two weeks ago visited Moscow on the day of the Victory Parade: President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, Belarus – Alexander Lukashenko, Kyrgyzstan – Sadyr Zhaparov, as well as Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan (the head of the republic will arrive on May 25).
Putin, speaking first before his colleagues, spoke about the economy and, naturally, about the geopolitical situation. Russia, as well as its partners in the alliance, are interested in “honest, productive, pragmatic cooperation.” “Everyone who acts, thinks and does otherwise, damages the global economy, shoots, in fact, in the foot and in the foot of those who are still forced to obey their (apparently, the USA. – Vedomosti) dictate,” he said. He. Putin emphasized that it is their choice to bet on a downward trend in development (apparently, the United States), while Russia is ready to cooperate with any countries on the principles that he spoke about.
According to Putin, despite the crisis in the global economy, geopolitical risks, the total GDP of the EAEU countries in 2022 decreased by only 1.6%, although some experts predicted a different, “collapse scenario”. Trade between the EAEU countries increased by 14% and amounted to $83.3 billion. “It’s no secret that our Western opponents are trying to persuade, various promises, and blackmail many of our partners to curtail beneficial cooperation with Russia. At the same time, they do not care at all what losses this will bring to the respective states and their peoples,” he said.
Russia, in his words, always fulfills its agreements. Putin cited “the energy crisis in Europe” as an example, adding that now “energy prices there are approaching economically justified levels”: “But who is to blame for what happened? Nord Stream 1 was blown up. Nord Stream 2 was not opened. The Yamal-Europe gas route through Poland was closed by Poland. Are we closed? They also closed. Two strings of the gas pipeline through Ukraine – Ukraine closed one of them. We didn’t do it. By the way, we supply gas to Europe through the second line, and Ukraine, despite calling us an aggressor, safely cashes money for transit,” Putin said.
The president also spoke about logistics (for example, the Rasht-Astara railway, in the construction of which the Russian Federation takes part), as well as the topic of settlements in national currencies that has become familiar at such events, which allows you to create a decentralized global financial system. And this, in his opinion, will allow the world economy to be less dependent on crisis phenomena in countries that have “such an advantage as world reserve currencies.” Putin also spoke about working with China to interface integration processes within the EAEU (China is not a member of the organization), with the Chinese initiative “One Belt – One Road”.
All invited heads of state spoke at the plenary session. Lukashenka, after a two-week absence, began his speech with a story about the “history of our Eurasianism.”
“As an experienced person, I was present at the origins of many processes. Our Eurasianism, the EAEU began in the kitchen of President Putin,” he said. According to Lukashenka, Putin invited the heads of state to the kitchen, and then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) was with them. Lukashenka spoke about his prophetic gift – he believed that it was unlikely that something would come of it, since “processes had already begun in Ukraine.”
In his speech, Lukashenka also said that the world lives in a state of uncertainty, and crises – financial, pandemic, geopolitical – succeed each other so “that people do not have time to take a breath.” A “powerful anchor” here is a stable economy, he added. Moreover, stability alone is almost impossible, so countries are interested in associations – like the SCO, BRICS, etc. Moreover, he added that “all progressive mankind” generally dreams of uniting the SCO and BRICS.
According to Lukashenko, it is necessary to develop relations between the EAEU countries in the field of energy, information, food and other security. Tokayev, who spoke after him, noted, however, that it is first necessary to complete the tasks ahead, and not run ahead.
“Before introducing something new, what has already been planned needs to work,” Tokayev said. According to him, economic integration is still not an end in itself, the main thing is to create new industries, technologies and jobs, develop transport and logistics infrastructure. And here Kazakhstan is building cooperation with China, since it is the largest consignor and buyer.
At the same time, towards the end of his speech, Tokayev called for determining how to work within the EAEU now, taking into account the specifics of its member countries.
He noted that the EAEU has a Union State of Russia and Belarus, which have a serious “conceptual and ideological basis”: “A unique precedent or phenomenon of creating a state according to the formula “Two countries – one state” has been created in world political history … With a single political, legal, monetary, cultural, humanitarian space. With a single union government, with a single union parliament. I apologize, and even nuclear weapons are one for two now.”
At this point, Putin and Lukashenko shook hands.
Tokayev continued that there is another level of integration in the EAEU, which is represented by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. “We have to deal with this reality. How will we work in these conditions? This is a conceptual issue,” he said, offering to discuss this problem.
Grigoryan also urged to take into account that the EAEU countries have different tax regimes, energy costs, logistics capabilities, etc. Zhaparov, in his speech, suggested strengthening the role of the Eurasian Economic Commission and the EAEU Court to remove barriers between the countries of the union.
The plenary session ended with speeches by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who addressed the participants in a video format, and Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. Xi recalled that China is the largest trading partner of the EAEU, in 2022 the trade turnover amounted to $243 billion. He said that changes are taking place in the world now and now the question is which development path to choose, because “the fate of the whole world” depends on it.
And although the President of the People’s Republic of China did not directly say that he proposes to choose the path that he himself proposes, he clearly hinted at this by proposing to build a “clean and beautiful world.” “As part of my initiatives for global development, global security, global civilization initiative, I called for the construction of a clean and beautiful world where long-term peace, universal security, shared prosperity, openness and inclusiveness reign. It also promotes the formation of a community and a common destiny for mankind. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the One Belt, One Road initiative I launched. Its starting point and end goal is to open up new opportunities for joint development and pave the way for the well-being of the countries of the world,” the Chinese President concluded.
The EAEU remains an important platform for all its participants, despite the economic pressure of large Western economies on Russia, Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries, believes. “The sanctions policy of the United States and a number of EU states, in addition to weakening Russia, was also designed for the collapse of integration organizations that are significant for Moscow. But this calculation was not justified. On the contrary, trade between the EAEU members continues to grow,” the expert says. Another thing, continues Zharikhin, since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, the economic benefits of the participating states have been distributed unevenly.
Nurlan Gasimov participated in the preparatory article
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