Kazakh PM urges EAEU counterparts not to draw new areas into integration

ASTANA. Aug 24 (Interfax) - Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member countries should focus on implementing several outstanding agreements rather than drawing new areas into the integration process, Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov has said.

"Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted the need for a comprehensive review of EAEU law at a session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in May this year. [...] We hope that the Commission will prepare a detailed, impartial report identifying specific reasons for the failure to implement certain agreements. Colleagues, let's be honest. We have problematic issues, not everything is working as we planned. The EAEU is going through a stage of maturation. We believe that we shouldn't draw new spheres into integration," Smailov said at an extraordinary session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council on Thursday.

Kazakhstan has expressed interest in developing the industrial and agricultural sectors by implementing mutually beneficial projects, enhancing cooperation in transport and logistics, creating a common financial market, developing the institute of observer states, cooperating with interested foreign countries, and through the qualitative development of the Eurasian Economic Commission, he said.

"The Commission should find a delicate balance between the countries' economic interests. It is necessary to reach a fundamentally new professional level," he added.

Further development of the member states' economies is possible with the full use of EAEU integration capabilities, but for this purpose it's necessary to strictly comply with the goals and objectives that the parties set when the union was formed, Smailov said.