YEREVAN, OCTOBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council which is being held in Yerevan is going to be a key step for the successful process of the integration development, President of Kazakhstan Kassim Jomart-Tokayev said in his remarks at the extended format session.

“I would like to thank the Armenian side, particularly Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for the high-level reception. I would like to state that Armenia’s chairmanship in the EAEU is passing successfully and has its useful contribution to the development of integration processes. I also want to thank the Eurasian Economic Commission, Chairman of the EEC Board Tigran Sargsyan for his great contribution to the development of the integration process in our organization”, the Kazakh leader said.

He expressed confidence over the efficiency of today’s session. The Kazakh President said the EAEU has become one of the key circles in the field of international trade, as the Union is open to the foreign partners for the mutually beneficial cooperation.

“Nevertheless, the rapidly growing competitiveness, the trade wars leave their negative impact on the stability of the world economy. Therefore, we need to pay attention to several issues the solutions of which will help to overcome these negative processes”, he said.

Kassim Jomart-Tokayev said decline in trade turnover volume is noticed this year. According to the data of the first half of 2019, the EAEU trade turnover with the third countries declined by 2%, and the trade turnover of the Union’s member states by more than 5%.

“Agree with me that this is not a positive trend. Under such a difficult global situation it’s very important for us to be able to ensure stable economic growth for our states, and this is possible in case of a real and mutually beneficial partnership. Our countries should continue to eliminate the barriers of the domestic market. We have discussed this topic for several times and touched upon it also today. We have established a necessary normative base for free trade, this is of course success, but actions still need to be taken on this path in order to eliminate different restrictions”, he said.

According to the Kazakh President, the EAEU is in the crossroad of world markets, there is quite a big potential in this direction, and today the Union is considered as a key transportation hub, connecting East and West. He highlighted that it’s necessary to use right these opportunities.

The Kazakh leader emphasized the creation of favorable conditions for advanced technologies, as well as the digitization of economy. He highlighted the works to expand the circle of the EAEU partners. In particular talking about the respective agreements signed with Singapore and Iran, the Kazakh President said this opens serious opportunities. He also informed that the cooperation agreement with Iran will enter into force on October 27.

The extended format session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council is attended by the leaders of the EAEU member states: Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Kazakhstan’s President Kassim Jomart-Tokayev. Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Tigran Sargsyan also participates in the session. The session is also attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong as invited heads of states, as well as by President of Moldova Igor Dodon as head of an observer state.

Armenia holds presidency at the EAEU in 2019.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan