Kyrgyzstan’s president spurs work on joining Customs Union

BISHKEK. KAZINFORM Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and the wider planned Common Economic Space has brought together President Almazbek Atambayev, Deputy Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev and Economy Minister Temir Sariev for talks, a spokesman for the president told Itar-Tass on Friday.

"Participants in the meeting told the president that the republic's government had started working with the Russian government to agree on the country's entry into the integration associations alongside the adjustment of Kyrgyzstan's economy to the conditions of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space," the spokesman said, adding that this work aimed to prevent risks connected with move, ITAR-TASS reports. "The president ordered ministers to develop, together with the Russian government, specific measures to increase the effectiveness of the country's participation...and to intensify mutually-beneficial co-operation with partners," the spokesman said. Kyrgyz authorities decided to enter the Customs Union in spring 2011. Six months later, the republic officially applied to join the assembly and the parties were charged to complete a roadmap plan for integration by the end of 2013. Further advance was postponed pending guarantees that the country's national interests would be protected.