EAEU offers EU dialogue on trade, infrastructure projects

ASTANA. KAZINFORM The active interaction between the EAEU and the EU opens up many opportunities for accelerated economic development of their member countries, said the EEC Minister in charge of Economy and Financial Policy, Timur Zhaksylykov at the 4th Moscow International Financial and Economic Forum The Eurasian Union and the EU: search for new formats of cooperation, Kazinform has learned from the EEC press service.

Elimination of non-tariff barriers, liberalization of access to financial markets, trade in goods and services, joint implementation of large transport infrastructure projects and many other issues can form the basis for a dialogue between the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union, he said.

The interaction between the two large economic unions is important due to the fact that the European Union is still one of the main trade and economic partners of the EAEU. Thus, more than 50% of the EAEU member states' exports go to EU countries.

However, according to the Minister, such a dialogue is not existent yet. And that, in his opinion, has led to the decrease in the EAEU states imports from EU and shifting their focus towards the APEC countries instead.

According to Timur Zhaksylykov, in January-September 2016, the EU's share in the total volume of imports to the EAEU countries was 41%, and the share of APEC countries - 42.1%. However, in January-September 2017, imports from EU totaled 40.3%, while from APEC countries, by contrast, increased to 43.1%.

At the same time, the EEC Minister added that transitioning to a new round of relations will require intensive work from the EAEU governments.