Astana opposed to Eurasian Economic Union politicization
ASTANA. May 23 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan insisted on the impermissibility of politicizing the Eurasian Economic Union in the course of preparations to set up this integration union, Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev said in an interview with Interfax.
"I'd like to emphasize that in the course of the negotiating process we have been steadily maintaining an opinion of the impermissibility of politicizating the integration union and the discussion of issues concerning national competences and state sovereignty within its framework," he said.
"Our partners from Russia and Belarus suggested at the initial stage of the negotiations to include in the draft treaty an inter-parliamentary assembly, a coordinated foreign policy and norms regarding cooperation of the sides in non-economic spheres, such as healthcare, education, science, culture, legal assistance in civil, criminal and administrative cases, state border crossing and prevention of illegal migration. All of the above has been excluded from the treaty by our demand primarily because these issues are regulated by multilateral agreements in the CIS and CSTO formats, as well as by bilateral agreements between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan," Sagintayev stressed.
Article 1 of the institutional part of the treaty, "The Establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union. Legal Personality", which will be signed by the heads of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus in Astana on May 29, carries a clear definition of the union as "an international organization of regional economic integration," he noted.
