New plants and factories in the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union will be built with the help of the Industrial Policy Council. The leaders of the EurAsEC today agreed to create it. The summit of the organization dedicated to its fifth anniversary was held in Nur-Sultan. And this is the first such meeting when Kazakhstan was represented by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the head of state.
Andrey Grigoryev has the details.
If you look from one side, at the entrance, there's a giant sign "Astana". On the other, the same three-dimensional letters turn into "Nur-Sultan". The Eurasian Economic Union was founded in the capital of Kazakhstan, and its fifth anniversary today is being celebrated at the same place, but the city has changed its name since then.
Vladimir Putin: "Today, the EurAsEC is an effective integration association, whose activities are based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit, and respect for each other's interests. A common market has been formed in the framework of the union, with over 180 million consumers. The freedom of movement of goods, services, capital, and labor is ensured. Integration processes have stimulated the sustainable development of the economies of all of our countries, and contributed to improving the living standards and well-being of our citizens".
There are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia. In addition to the five regular participants, there's also an observer country, Moldova. Vladimir Putin had a personal meeting with its president today. Among the guests is President of Tajikistan Rahmon, who also participates in the negotiations.
Táýelsizdik Saraıy, the Palace of Independence, is spacious and has many rooms. It was designed for holding mass events — both international summits and important events in the life of the country. It's already been decided that the inauguration of the new president of Kazakhstan will also be held here after the elections.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, both in domestic and foreign policy, adheres to the course set by the first president, Nazarbayev. Such continuity of power is attractive for its economic partners.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Acting President of Kazakhstan: "Over 40 countries of the world have expressed a desire to develop trade and economic cooperation with our association. I'm sure that joint work will let us build a large and economically strong Eurasia in the near future".
Nazarbayev resigned from the presidency but remained as chairman of the Security Council, the leader of the ruling party, and elbasy — the leader of the nation. Today, he also became an honorary chairman of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. His candidacy was chosen unanimously.
Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus: “It isn't only about his personality. Many people begin to talk about his personality, although I wish everyone had such personality. He has a huge army of smart people, experts. And we shouldn't lose it. That's why you shouldn't think that this is a kind of gift to the person, who was the president of Kazakhstan not long ago, and now resigned. We'll still be able to squeeze a lot of positive things for our union out of him. Squeeze.”
The National Bank of Kazakhstan minted these gold coins weighing two pounds and with a face value of 50,000 tenges for the anniversary of the EurAsEC. Settlements within the union can be carried out in national currencies. Honorary Chairman Nazarbayev proposes to coordinate trade more carefully.
Nursultan Nazarbayev, Honorary Chairman of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council: "We import products and machinery. Okay. But consumer goods, such as shoes, boots, stockings, socks, suits, shirts, and even food — why don't we produce all of it ourselves? What opportunities to expand markets, make money, and provide jobs we have!"
Ideally, they want to form a common market. This has already been done with electricity, gas and oil products are next in line.
Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia: "The formation of a common electric power market for the union will allow member states to establish cooperation based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit, fair competition".
Putin immediately consulted with the minister of finance. Economic calculations come first. But joint agreements may not be beneficial if they're useful to the residents of the Eurasian Union.
Vladimir Putin: "Let me note the agreement prepared by the Eurasian Commission, which will allow taking the employment period of an entire period of working life in the territory of all of the union's states into consideration when calculating pensions. I think that for a person who worked all of his life, this is very important. For us and that person, by and large, it'll be unimportant where exactly he worked. The main thing is to have the relevant documents confirming that experience".
Consultations continued on the margins. Here's Vladimir Putin accompanied by Tokayev. The dialogue continued until Putin got into his Aurus to go to the airport.
Andrey Grigoryev, Alexandra Terpugova, Renat Gareev, Vadim Klevanov for Vesti from Nur-Sultan.
