Customs Union members open second front

Coming into force of the Customs Code planned for July 1 has become a bargaining point.

Representatives of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan made statements yesterday on unanswered issues of the meeting between the government heads in the frameworks of the EurAsEC intergovernmental council session on May 28, Kommersant daily writes.

The Customs Code of the Customs Union comes into force on July 1 if the presidents of the three countries sign laws on ratification of the customs code agreement. The laws have been passed by the parliaments and now are lying on tables of the heads of the Customs Union member states. Russia and Kazakhstan said they were ready to sign the Customs Code even without Belarus. This statement was made after Belarusian PM Syarhei Sidorski hadn’t attended the meeting of the countries’ PMs in St Petersburg on May 28 (his absence was explained by unsettled matter of Russian import duties on oil in the frames of the Customs Union that is a key problem for Minsk). So, official Minsk found itself in a very advantageous position. The Customs Code signed between two countries won’t practically change the order of economic cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan. But for Belarus, for which launching the Code means creating the common customs territory (CCT) with Russia, formation of Russia-Kazakhstan common customs area is postponed until 2011.

The structure of the Union’s customs may change radically if Minsk signs the Customs Code of the Customs Union by 1 July. In fact, the very existence of Russia-Belarus single customs territory depends on Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s signature. Taking into account that formation of the common customs territory must be regulated by intergovernmental agreements, Minsk can change the CCT legal constitution in a rather wide range, for instance, the agreements, which were planned to be signed, contain a document on free trading zones regulating, in particular, an issue of transit to Kaliningrad via Belarus and an agreements on car duties (until it is signed, cars from the EU can cross the Belarusian¬-Russian border without duties).

Deputy prime minster of Russia Igor Shuvalov, the head of the Customs Union commission, visited Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Minsk yesterday to solve the situation with the Union’s Customs Code. It should be noticed that Minsk in fact makes the only condition on launching the Code on July 1. It is settling the issue on export duties on Russian oil supplies to Belarusian refineries. Belarusian deputy PM Uladzimir Syamashka told Interfax news agency yesterday: “Signing the Union’s Customs Code should follow lifting export duties on oil and oil products.” He added: If Russia had agreed to lift the export duties at least from January 1, 2011, Belarus would have take part in the talk on May 28 and signed the Customs Code. But the Russians didn’t agree.”

Minsk is ready to exchange duty-free oil for “concessions in two or three problems sensitive for Russia and Kazakhstan (in particular, car industry and import of goods by individuals), Lukashenka said yesterday. “We will agree to … any concessions, even if they will be difficult and heavy for us for some period,” he said. Shuvalov noted in turn: “We have come to terms about virtually all the matters of argument except for the most sensitive ones,” adding that the Russian president had instructed him to discuss decisions on Customs Code with the Belarusian ruler and the prime minister had ordered him to “represent the position of the Russian government on export duties”. These statements were made at the beginning of the meeting. According to Kommersant’s information, it was decided after the meeting not to disclose the negotiation results.

Meanwhile, deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan Umirzak Shukeyev announced the date of the Customs Union coming into force if Alyaksndr Lukashenka didn’t sign the law to ratify the Code. In this case, talks on formation of the “reduced” Customs Union will be held in St Petersburg on June 17–18, and “in early July the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan will gather in Astana to draw a line under this process,” Shukeyev said.