Kazakhstan and the EEU.Bakhyt Sultanov summed up the results of the year

We continue to talk about the results of the outgoing year.
The EEU

In the coming year, Kazakhstan will assume the chairmanship of the bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union. This will give us the opportunity to develop topical issues and generally promote our integration agenda.
But in 2020, we have done a great job.

I have already said more than once that regional trade in the EAEU is at an insufficient level. And coronariana declined even more. Domestic trade turnover with partners in the Eurasian Union decreased by 11.6%.

In part, the reason for the low turnover is trade barriers. This year, we managed to eliminate 8 of them. For example, the ban on access to the Russian market of our vet has been lifted.additional requirements of Moscow for the transportation of food products. It was possible to open access to Kazakh manufactured goods to public procurement in Russia and to abolish the practice of regional certification in some Russian districts.

And more. We managed to implement a mechanism for monthly consideration of the most sensitive obstacles by the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).

Just today, I defended the ratification of the Protocol on Amendments to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union in the Majilis. The work on the block of these amendments was carried out for more than 4 years. And a huge layer of them concerns ensuring equal business conditions in the markets of neighbors. For example, now the EEC, if it detects a violation of competition conditions, promptly warns the market entity. And the entrepreneur has a chance to quickly improve and avoid high fines for anti-competitive practices. This is the so-called "soft" right.

The most important achievement of the outgoing year was the approval by the heads of state of the Eurasian Union of Strategic Directions for the development of the EAEU until 2025. The presidents were initially expected to sign the document at an online summit in May. But there were still so many "raw" moments in the draft, with which Kazakhstan did not agree, that at the suggestion of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, all 5 countries "polished" the document for another six months. And we achieved the adoption of the Strategy in the required format: 246 excluded activities contrary to the national interest, and obtained the inclusion of 106 events and initiatives "we need content".

The principled position of Kazakhstan, which we defended, was the sovereign right of each country to conduct its own monetary policy, including tax, industrial, agricultural and visa policies. We were categorically opposed (and we managed to defend our position) to the performance of the EAEU member states with a united front in relations with the outside world. Kazakhstan is a sovereign country. And participation in the processes of economic integration will not in any way limit our right to conduct our own policies with other States. Without the consent of anyone.

About a third of the country a separate conversation.

Today, the Majilis approved the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement of the Eurasian Union with Serbia. We, Belarus and Russia already have a free trade zone with Belgrade on a bilateral basis. Now we are extending this procedure to other countries of the Union.

Now we will be able to supply cheese, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes to Serbia duty-free. By the way, the potential for increasing Kazakhstan's exports to this country is estimated at $250 million. These are products of the petrochemical, chemical, metallurgical, machine-building, food industries and building materials.
In the past year, we have begun to study the feasibility of concluding similar agreements with Mongolia and Indonesia. Our potential to increase trade in the case of agreements with Mongolia is $220 million, with Indonesia – $525 million.

We are negotiating free trade with Egypt, Israel, and India. We have already determined the list of exemptions and formed a list of goods of export interest. According to our calculations, if we conclude agreements with these three countries alone, we will be able to increase our trade turnover by $800 million. In particular, by increasing exports of metal products, products of inorganic chemistry, machinery, equipment, tobacco products, food products and much more. Kazakhstan has the opportunity to increase exports to India alone for more than 1,800 types of goods (including 239 agricultural and 1646 industrial goods).
In general, despite the corona-crisis obstacles, we have achieved good results.

Next year we will continue to work "on all fronts".