Joining Customs Union will solve problems of new members

ASTANA, May 4 (Itar-Tass) - Joining the Customs Union and the Common
Economic Space will enable new members to solve many problems, and not
only economic ones, Tair Mansurov, secretary-general of the Eurasian
Economic Community (EurAsEC), said on Wednesday at the round table
conference in the framework of the Fourth Astana Economic Forum "Global
and Regional Integration - New Opportunities for Economic Growth".
"Kyrgyzstan has officially expressed the wish to join the Customs
Union and we hope that Tajikistan and other states will also make
decisions and choose the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space as
the guides for their development - such is the sovereign choice of each
state," Mansurov said. "We are sure that membership in these integration
entities will enable new participants to solve many problems, and not only
in the economic area," he said.
"The EurAsEC, the operating Customs Union and the Common Economic
Space being formed mean a clear signal to all post-Soviet countries as to
how to integrate and develop their economies and on what successful
projects to build their future," said the EurAsEC secretary-general.
Mansurov said it is necessary to draft and adopt 13 international
agreements signed by the governments of the three sides in order to create
the Common Economic Space in the next five years. In addition, it is
necessary to adopt 42 bylaws to promote the Common Economic space.
At the same time it is necessary to conclude the preparation of the
legal base for the Customs Union. According to Vladimir Lityushkin, the
first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee for CIS Affairs,
it is necessary to draft 16 agreements in connection with the fact that
the formation of the common space of the three countries is completed on
July 1. "The MPs will have not only to ratify the new agreements but also
to adjust the existing ones," he said.