From left, Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan,
and Dmitry Medvedev, president of Russia.
In 2009, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed in Minsk a series of documents on the establishment of the Customs Union. After the event, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said “this is a very important long-awaited decision, the result of very complicated negotiations”, while his counterpart from Belarus Aleksandr Lukasenk said that “the three countries will establish a customs union starting July 1”. In turn, the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaiev declared that “by establishing the customs union, the three countries expect an economic growth of over 15% by 2015”.
The project has been delayed based on some misunderstandings with Belarus. Thus, in May 2010, Russia and Kazakhstan agreed on initiating the customs union project starting July 1, without Belarus. “We have agreed on launching the Customs Code of the Customs Union on bilateral foundation starting July 1”, declared Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin following a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Karim Masimov, a meeting which has not been attended by Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky. The absence of Belarus during the first phase of the union launch has clearly indicated the fact that there had been tensions between Moscow and Minsk. At that time, it was not exactly clear how that could affect Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation giving its customs union with Kazakhstan. Shortly afterwards, Vladimir Putin announced that the two countries would like to be part of the World Trade Organisation if Belarus didn’t approve the Customs Union agreements. Initially, Russia wanted to accede to the World Trade Organisation together with Kazakhstan, as a customs union but this was extremely complicated and difficult under the regulations of the European Union since the three countries wanted to accede the organisation at the same time. Russia has been planning to become member of the World Trade Organisation for 16 years, but according to the chief of the EU delegation to Russia, Fernando Valenzuela, “Russia can accede the World Trade Organisation in a year if it fulfils the conditions necessary to this process”.
The misunderstandings between Russia and Belarus were mainly the result of the oil product tax issue. Since 2007, Russia has been charging oil exports to Belarus which has seriously hit the economy of this country. Belarus has important oil refining and reselling installations.
Moreover, Russia and Kazakhstan agreed to immediately solved the differences currently existing between the two countries in order to create a single economic space. Under the circumstances, Russia and Kazakhstan agreed on redistributing the import rights within the customs union in case Belarus didn’t join them by July 1, 2010, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kumirzak Shukiyev announced. He also said that Russia would receive 92.31% of the customs taxes imposed by the Customs Union, while Kazakhstan, 7.69%. Under previous agreements, Belarus should receive 4.7%, while Russia and Kazakhstan 87.97% and 7.33% respectively of the taxes imposed by the Customs Union.
Despite these misunderstandings, on July 5, 2010, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, present in Astana (Kazakhstan) at the Eurasian Economic Community Summit (EvrAzEs), announced that the Customs Union has come into effect in complete formation: Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko declared his country ratified all the agreements related to this customs union.
The union implies the introduction of a common customs tax on the territory of all three countries, the elimination of customs control at border crossings and the implementation of joint foreign trade regulatory mechanisms.
by Pamela Luică
Share on:
