Kazakhstan has no intention to establish union state with anyone - presidential press secretary

ASTANA. May 26 (Interfax) - Integration within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should be strictly economic, and Kazakhstan has no intention to establish a union state with anyone, Kazakh presidential press secretary Ruslan Zheldibai has said in comment on a statement made by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow.

"During that meeting, the president made a number of statements, which are being quite broadly discussed by the expert community. I should say in this connection that the key message of the head of state is that integration within the EAEU framework should strictly keep to the economic track. Any breaking of these boundaries would contravene the objectives, principles and tasks of the organization's statutory documents," Zheldibai said on a social network on Friday.

Tokayev said that economic integration is not an end in itself but a way to develop economies and improve the people's wellbeing. "This means that any decisions made in the union should bear fruit for every particular member, above all, citizens of all EAEU states," Zheldibai said.

The so-called multilevel integration has also been touched upon, he said.

"Indeed, two EAEU member states - Russia and Belarus - demonstrate a higher and closer level of rapprochement. That's a unique precedent. As the head of state has pointed out, this is actually one people and one state. In this light, it is very important to distinguish between initiatives made in two integration projects, which have completely different goals," Zheldibai said.

"As for our country, Kazakhstan has no intention and does not plan to create or join any union states," he said.