Eurasian integration will take on European vector in future - Russian parliamentarian
MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - The European vector will become an element of Eurasian integration processes, which are gaining momentum today, Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said.
"In modern conditions, despite the difficulties that surround large-scale projects such as Eurasian economic integration, this vector of development can be sensed clearly. We can see that it is gaining momentum," Naryshkin said at a State Duma session addressing economic integration processes in Eurasia.
Both CIS member countries and the rest of the world are strongly interested in these processes being a success, he said.
"Today integration processes on CIS soil are developing in different formats and at a different speed. They range from the free trade zone to the Customs Union of three states, the Common Economic Space and, finally, the Russia-Belarus Union. And each state makes its own decisions regarding its involvement in this integration," Naryshkin said.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan established the Customs Union in 2010 and are currently forming the Common Economic Space, which should appear by January 1, 2015, he said.
"Public support for the Eurasian project serves as the best answer to opponents and adversaries, as well as those who set European integration against integration processes in Eurasia. However, Europe is a part of Eurasia, which means that the European vector of development will become an element of Eurasian integration processes in the future. I am sure of that," Naryshkin said.
The Customs Union member countries have always sought to harmonize integration processes within the European Union and the Common Economic Space, he said.
