The Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh prime ministers discuss the common market.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin devotes the end of the week to post-Soviet integration.
The meeting of the Russian and Belarusian governments went very quickly although the parties had more than 20 different issues on the agenda, including the parameters of next year's budget for the Union State, social cooperation and humanitarian projects.
The meeting of the three members of the Customs Union, after Kazakhstan joined Russia and Belarus, was much longer, as expected, because they were discussing the formation of the Common Economic Space (CES) and could not agree on many of the major issues. However, judging by the final news conference, they managed to come to terms on most of them in the end.
Speaking at the beginning of the government meeting, Putin emphasized that the political differences between Moscow and Minsk should not affect economic integration. "Problems, disputes and misunderstandings between close neighbours are inevitable as much as they are in any family. But the vital interests and aspirations of our fraternal nations are more important," he said with conviction.
After the Russian-Belarusian talks, Vladimir Putin, his Belarusian counterpart Sergei Sidorsky and Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov began discussing the CES, which, in Putin's opinion, is designed to intensify integration and make the economies more attractive for investment.
The meeting took place in the hall where the decision to set up the Customs Union was made. "Our next goal that follows the logic of integration is to create the CES with the free movement of goods, services, capital and workers, and with coordinated currency and macroeconomic policy," Putin said.
The documents for the legal foundation of the CES must be ready by January 1 of next year. Deputy prime ministers, ministers and experts had been working on the documents up until the very last moment. As a result, 17 draft agreements appeared on the negotiating table, eight of which are practically ready. These are agreements on common principles and technical regulations, cooperation on countering illegal labour migration and the legal status of migrant workers and their family members.
The prime ministers discussed the key issues on which they had not yet reached final agreement, such as the principles for the operation of railways, the power industry and the oil and gas sector.
"I can tell you that after today's uneasy discussion, we have still managed to adopt acceptable, coordinated decisions on an array of issues. And in connection with this, I hope that our next steps will be even easier than before," Putin said at the news conference after the meeting. "We've been able to agree in principle on all sensitive issues, such as railway transportation, gas and oil pipelines and the transfer of electricity. Now the ball is in the experts' court – they need to put all of these agreements on paper. We are very close to resolving a number of problems that had weighed down our economies for 20 years," Masimov echoed him enthusiastically. He said that if these questions had been resolved 10 years ago, there would have been no need to build parallel power lines and railways.
The prime ministers also discussed their partners from the CIS and the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec), which display interest in the Customs Union and the CES. "We have discussed these issues both with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Now that we have eliminated the political racket in our relations with Ukraine, we see how interested our Ukrainian partners are in drawing the greatest possible benefits from the economy, first of all, from taking part in various integration associations," Putin noted. He observed that those who join them later will have to adjust themselves to the agreements made between Moscow, Minsk and Astana.
At the meeting Moscow again reiterated its position – after the three prime ministers sign the CES documents and Belarus ratifies them, Russia will cancel export duties on crude oil -- even before ratifying the relevant agreements. Belarus now receives duty-free oil for domestic consumption. Export duties are only levied on its oil exports. There are no export duties on gas exports to Belarus. "This is a special present from the Russian budget to the Belarusian economy," Putin said.
As for Belarus' wish to see gas prices at Russia's domestic level, they will be fixed under the operating contract for the entire next year. Putin said that it is up to companies to fix prices in the first place. He said he had already instructed Gazprom to start drafting a contract for 2012-2015 with due account of the common strategic goals, allied commitments and the desire to set up the CES.
Incidentally
On the programme News on Saturday, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov spoke about privatisation plans. The market will be offered a large package of assets, of which VTB has the largest stock. Other assets include port infrastructure and major companies, including oil companies. Shuvalov said that the government is ready to support regional projects but does not want to encourage dependency.
He also commented on the nomination of his colleague Sergei Sobyanin as mayor of Moscow. He said Sobyanin's goal will be to completely transform Moscow. "He will have to make totally unpopular, difficult decisions," he noted, including ones on traffic in the capital. Shuvalov is convinced that Moscow should become comfortable not only for big business but also for children and the elderly.
By Kira Latukhina