Participants of the Eurasian Forum: political integration of our countries is inevitable
Participants of the Eurasian Forum: political integration of our countries is inevitable
The First Eurasian Economic Forum held in Bishkek on May 26 , according to its participants, confirmed the viability and prospects of integration within the EAEU.
“Over the years of the existence of the Eurasian Economic Union, since May 2015, a forum of this magnitude was held for the first time - it brought together more than 2.5 thousand participants from 25 countries of the world. This speaks not only of the viability of the association, but also of its international prestige. As we can see, the event demonstrated the interest of a number of countries, such as China, India, Egypt, Israel and others, to build cooperation with the EAEU, despite the fact that our union is only about 184 million people, or 4.3% of world GDP,” - emphasized the director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies of Kyrgyzstan, economist Rustam Asizbaev.
According to him, today not a single country in the world can exist in isolation - without participation in integration communities. It is for this reason that various associations and blocks are formed.
“Some countries unite taking into account geography and natural resources, some take into account the sea line, some for the purpose of military cooperation. The EAEU is an integration delineated not only by geographical boundaries, but also by close economic ties that have been preserved since the Soviet past. At the same time, our association is open to international cooperation, and if the West has turned its back on us, we are ready to turn to the East, primarily towards China. Moreover, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia have a common border with China, the second largest economy in the world, with a GDP exceeding $18 trillion. If China is interested in expanding cooperation with us, we will get a huge economic union, which no one in the world can resist,” the Rhythm of Eurasia interlocutor explained.
He also stressed that in the light of the sanctions that Western countries currently apply to Russia and Belarus and affect other members of the integration association, the strengthening of the EAEU is of particular relevance.
“Our key goals for today are the development and implementation of strategic documents aimed at the development of our countries, the industrial and agro-industrial complex, transport infrastructure and logistics structures. An equally important step should be the creation, following the example of the same European Union, of a single currency market. It is clear that the dollar should not dominate in our space, so the adoption of this decision, in my opinion, is not far off, given that the question of the need to introduce a single currency arose 3-4 years ago. I think this mission will be carried out by the Russian ruble,” the expert shared his opinion.
At the same time, he noted that the forum also discussed the problems remaining within the framework of integration, primarily related to the implementation of the four fundamental principles of the EAEU - freedom of movement of goods, services, finance and labor resources. According to the economist, businesses still face the greatest number of barriers in the movement of goods, in particular, the movement of Kyrgyz goods across the border of Kazakhstan.
“Kyrgyzstan has the longest state border with Kazakhstan, which, like us, is a member of the EAEU - our common border is more than 1 thousand km. At the same time, 80% of all our exports and imports pass through the territory of our northern neighbor, so the solution of issues related to the movement of goods is very important for us. The Kazakh side accuses us of allegedly carrying smuggling, on our side it is said that by closing the border for our goods, the neighbors solve competition issues for themselves. I see that the root of the problem lies in the political plane. Within the framework of the forum, the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan tried to find a solution to this issue. President Sadyr Japarov said that political problems have been resolved. Those. only economic aspects remain debatable, which sooner or later will also be removed, but I would like
Stanislav Pritchin, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Ural-Volga region of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PhD in History, called the forum unusual.
“At the start, expectations from the forum were quite high, because. after long online negotiations, this was to be the first meeting at the level of the main actors, opinion leaders and heads of state of the EAEU. But the Ukrainian case, of course, mixed up all plans, and as a result, not all leaders flew to Kyrgyzstan to personally participate in the events. However, in my opinion, this did not greatly affect the content of the discussion and the ideas voiced. Moreover, the involvement in the discussion of a wide range of public and cultural figures brought a number of fresh ideas to enhance cooperation between the Union countries in the humanitarian direction, thanks to which the forum became even more interesting, meaningful and fundamental in terms of discussing issues that go beyond the economy,” the interlocutor of Rhythm of Eurasia shared his opinion.
Panel “Eurasianism as an idea for uniting people. A look into the future” turned out to be perhaps the most popular on the forum
The relevance of discussing non-economic areas of cooperation within the framework of the EAEU was also emphasized by the ex-deputy of the Zhogorku Kenesh (Parliament) of Kyrgyzstan Marat Amankulov.
“Despite the fact that the EAEU is an economic union and the forum was economic, the liveliest section, attended by cultural and artistic figures, philosophers, thinkers, was devoted not to economics, but to the idea of Eurasianism as a civilizational basis for integration in our space. The hall where it took place was crowded, and this indicates that our integration needs non-material meanings. In my opinion, this discussion is very important and relevant today, and somewhere it may even be late,” the former parliamentarian noted.
He emphasized that the session was attended by representatives of different countries and religions, professions and social status, but everyone understood and felt each other, because they spoke in different words, but about the same thing, finding a response in the heart of each of the participants. “This suggests that we have much more in common than is commonly believed today. We have a common picture of the world and common values that cannot be lost. It is necessary to create dialogue platforms where we will talk about this, and only then everything else, including the economy, will follow the spiritual component. In this regard, I would note the speech of the Deputy Chairman of the Izborsk Club Vitaly Averyanov, ”the interlocutor of the Rhythm of Eurasia shared his opinion.
He recalled that the ideas of Eurasianism were discussed in Kyrgyzstan two years ago. “I still remain committed to this idea, because I am still convinced that multidirectional integration processes on the territory of Eurasia are extremely important, and not only for Kyrgyzstan, but also for Kazakhstan, and for Russia, and for other countries. As recent events show, turbulent whirlwinds in world politics, we need an ideological platform on the basis of which integration will take place. And I believe that these processes should begin not from the economy, but from the civilizational level - from the awareness of unity through socio-cultural interpenetration and common spiritual values that all peoples who have lived together in the Eurasian space for centuries are ready to defend, ”M. Amankulov is sure.
Commenting on the statement on the need for political integration within the EAEU, made at the forum by the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Zhaparov, he supported this idea, emphasizing that integration on the territory of Eurasia occurs constantly, it goes naturally and does not depend on the "wants" of certain political forces or geopolitical processes.
“We have a common civilizational beginning, and there is no getting away from this, whether we like it or not, political integration is inevitable. History has shown more than once that our countries prosper only when they become part of one whole - a flourishing complexity. Different cultures, different peoples and ethnic groups sound only when they are together, separately they do not have such harmony,” the ex-deputy emphasized.
He expressed regret that, for objective reasons, not all heads of the EAEU states came to the forum, but at the same time emphasized that this circumstance did not change the essence and content of the past event: “It has become of great importance not only for Kyrgyzstan and the EAEU countries, but also for other states interested in developing cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union”.
In turn, Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations of the Institute of Contemporary International Problems of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, noted that the current situation in world politics promises big changes for the world. “Looks like it's time to move from words to deeds. The First Eurasian Economic Forum outlined ambitious plans, and the near future will show how words can be converted into real deeds,” he stressed.
Natalya Krek , political scientist