Lukashenka, Medvedev and Nazarbayev haven’t come to agreement

Despite of the declarations that the Customs Union would start its work since January 1, 2010, leaders of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan postponed creation of the single customs territory for half a year.

A trilateral meeting of Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Dmitry Medvedev and Nursultan Nazarbayev was held in Minsk, where a session of the Eurasian Economic Community Interstate Council (EurAsEC) takes place today.

After the meeting of the three presidents informational agencies reported statements by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, which abstract character have emphasized the meaninglessness of the event in Minsk.

“During complicated but profound talks we have come up with a compromise and balanced agreement, which implementation can launch deep economic integration with elements of the single economic space,” said Lukashenka.

As said by him, “a number of fundamental strategic decisions that determine prospects of the Customs Union development have been considered and approved”.

“We have agreed that in H1 2010 we will deal with all the problems and will be able to create the single customs space. We have agreed that as from 1 July 2010 we, the three states, will approach the single customs territory,” Lukashenka said.

As said by him, since January 1 2010 a single customs tariff would be implemented for Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, but the Customs Code of the three countries would come into effect since July 1.

The Belarusian leader also stressed that the single customs space of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan makes provisions for transition of its participants to equal prices for energy resources.

“All of them would start to work on an equal footing, including such sensitive issue as equal prices for energy resources,” he said.

Lukashenka has also stated that the leaders of the states have also agreed that they would meet in Almaty on December 18 and address issues relating to the creation of the single economic space, in particular, define the time of its creation and coordinate the approval of draft documents.

We remind that earlier January 1, 2010 was named as the date of the Customs Union creation.

In particular, Sergey Glazyev, Executive Secretary of the Customs Committee of the Customs Union stated that the supreme authority of the Customs Union should approve the decision on imposing the single customs duty, common Customs Code and launch main mechanisms of the Customs Union functioning since January 1, 2010.

Since this day the supranational body regulating foreign trade activities, the Customs Union Commission, was to start its work. Its decisions are to be mandatory for the three states.

It should be noted that Russia will have 57% of votes in passing decisions on customs regulation, Kazakhstan 21.5%, and Belarus 21.5%.

It is still hard to say what expects the Belarusian economy in each sphere after the Customs Union starts functioning, as global changes in tariffs would take place. Oil duties reduction is the most important issue for Belarus. And the main disadvantage for citizens of the country is increase of duties for passenger cars.