Kazakh parliament ratifies EEU Treaty
ASTANA. Oct 9 (Interfax) - The Senate, the upper chamber of Kazakhstan's parliament, has approved a bill ratifying the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) Treaty, which was signed by the presidents of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan in Astana on May 29.
The document will now be submitted to the Kazakh president for signature.
The EEU is an international organization aimed at promoting regional economic integration processes in compliance with international law.
The treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union envisages freedom of movement of commodities, services, capital and the workforce and will promote coordinated or unified policies in all key sectors of the economy.
The document is meant to help maintain stable economic growth in the signatory countries for the benefit of raising the standards of living, reaffirms these countries' commitment to forming a common market of commodities, services, capital and human resources, as well as will help achieve comprehensive modernization, cooperation and better competitiveness of the national economies within the world economy.
The organization's institutions include the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, the Eurasian Inter-State Council, the Eurasian Economic Commission and the EEU Court.
The functioning of all these institutions will be regulated by the EEU Treaty and other international treaties to be signed within the Eurasian Economic Union.
The EEU bodies are funded with money from the EEU budget formed in accordance with the Organization's budget regulations. The budget for the next financial year is formed in Russian rubles at the expense of the parties' contributions. The size (scale) of the parties' budget contributions is set by the supreme council.
The supreme council is the EEU supreme body consisting of the parties' heads of state.
Under the Treaty, the Customs Union (CU) operates as an internal market of goods with the uniform EEU customs tariff and other uniform measures regulating foreign trade with third parties. There will be a uniform regime for trade in goods with third parties and a uniform customs regulation; goods between the CU members will move freely with no need for customs declaration and state control, unless otherwise provided in the Treaty.
Free economic zones and free warehouses will be created in the members' territories to foster their socio-economic development, to attract investment, to create and develop production facilities based on new technologies, to develop transport infrastructure, tourism and resort areas, and for other purposes.
In addition, efforts are underway to develop and implement measures aimed at ensuring information cooperation with the use of information and communication technologies and building cross-border confidence across the EEU to make sure integration processes occur in every sphere that affects the functioning of the EEU.