EAEU waiting for EU answer to dialogue proposal - Russian Foreign Ministry
MINSK. Oct 26 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is expecting a constructive response of the European Union to the cooperation proposal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya said.
"We are still waiting for a constructive response of the European Commission to the proposal to start a dialogue between the EAEU and the EU," Nebenzya said at an international conference, 'Laying the foundation in the UNECE region for economic integration and sustainable development towards 2030', in Minsk on Wednesday.
"We have yet to receive an answer to our proposal to hold a high-level international conference in Brussels with the purpose of coordination and conjunction of the activity of our integration associations," he said.
The EAEU has long urged the European Union to work together on a single economic space, Nebenzya said, adding that the UN Economic Commission for Europe was being considered as a possible platform.
"Attempts to defame the Eurasian Economic Union" have been going on for years, he said. "One of the most popular and absurd accusations is that the EAEU is a creation of Russia, which has devised a way to revive the Soviet Union," he said.
"We adhere to harmonization of your and our integration processes and we are ready to be a reliable and predictable partner for everyone who wishes to develop contacts with the union," he said.
"This is what we are guided by in the implementation of the idea of conjunction of the EAEU and the Silk Road Economic Belt and the formation of a vast Eurasian partnership of many countries affiliated with the EAEU, the SCO and the ASEAN," the Russian deputy foreign minister said.
The EAEU is negotiating a free trade zone with approximately 15 countries, and about 50 countries have expressed their interest in cooperating with the union, Nebenzya said.