Point of View

“For the first time, we have established an important, supranational body, which has already been granted many of the responsibilities of a country. It is important not to lose this momentum and establish a common customs area by July 1 and a common economic area by January 1, 2012, as we agreed.”

"We had complicated and lengthy but constructive talks with our Belarusian partners about crude oil supplies to the republic. We have reached a mutually acceptable decision. Russian oil will be supplied to Belarus duty-free to fully meet its domestic demand. However, duties will be levied for all additional supplies, processed and exported to third countries."

“The Customs Union is becoming the driver of the Eurasian Economic Community. We expect the rest of our EurAsEC partners to join this policy in the future. The launch of the Customs Union is a major step on the path to a common economic space with unrestricted goods, services, capital and workforce flow. It is a distinctly higher level of integration. A total of 170 million people represent a big consumer market which will open new vistas for businesses and producers from our countries and increase investment attractiveness.”

“The main objective is to create common mechanisms that will eliminate internal barriers on our customs territory and which will make it possible to control the Customs Union's external perimeter. We must prevent the creation of grey zones in the customs regulation. At the same time, we must not create additional obstacles for economic distribution.”

“Moreover, we have signed an agreement on the Customs Union's Customs Code. The agreement must be prepared for ratification as soon as possible. In the short-term, we must prioritise the creation of a common customs territory by July 1, 2010.”

“In the past six months, representatives of our departments and the ministries of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus have put a lot of energy into highly successful attempts to draft the Customs Union's legal framework. We have accomplished practical results, drafting a package of key documents and decisions needed to launch the Customs Union. First, this implies the approval of a common customs tariff and the introduction of a common system of non-tariff regulation starting January 1, 2010 and the granting of authority to the Customs Union Commission”.

"On the whole the Belarusian leadership and the President of Belarus are in favour of integration, of closer relations with Russia and we set great store by that. We have recently observed a spectacular manifestation of these sentiments and this policy when Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed documents to create a Customs Union. It is an important move towards integration, perhaps one of the most important in the post-Soviet times because it is a truly a path towards real integration."

"Highly complicated processes in terms of administrative, financial and law enforcement issues. This Union faces many challenges. I think all of you clearly understand that if we eventually manage to bring this work to its logical end, this will be the first real instance of integration in the post-Soviet space. For its part, the Russian Federation is prepared to go its part of the road and fulfil all of its commitments."

"It is necessary to thoroughly review how efficiently Union funds allocated for joint programmes are being spent. High-tech projects remain one of our highest priorities. It is vital that we continue joint efforts to ensure a decent living and social safety net for our citizens and develop our human capital. This is why we have prepared and approved the Concept for the Union State Social Development."

"This plan has already had a positive impact on the Russian and Belarusian economies, and has encouraged trade between our two countries. There are also a lot of other means to encourage trade further. We must try our best to use the advantages that come from our two countries' integration to recover from the crisis. The official establishment of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on January 1, 2010 will also contribute to fulfilling this goal. We expect that it will allow us to take cooperation between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan to a new level."