Bnews.kz - EDB reviews possibilities of using international experience in development of cooperation between Customs Union and third countries

Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Centre for Integration Studies has published a report titled The Customs Union and Neighbouring Countries: Models and Instruments of Mutually Beneficial Partnership. The authors have analysed the models and forms of cooperation between the existing integration organisations, in particular the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur, and countries that are not their members and/or do not border them, the press service of the bank reports.

In particular, cooperation between the EU and Norway and Iceland (on the basis of the European Economic Area Agreement) and Switzerland (on the basis of bilateral sectoral agreements) has been analysed. The Mercosur pursues a similar approach in its cooperation with Chile.

The report also analyses cooperation between the EU and the Balkan countries which is aimed at achieving their full membership of the EU and with the countries of Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus (including the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme) and the Mediterranean which takes form of a system of partnership and cooperation agreements and the implementation of plans of actions in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

«The Customs Union could propose to its current and future partners various models of interaction and additional instruments of cooperation.This is specifically important for the development of foreign economic ties of the emerging Eurasian Economic Union,» Vladimir Yasinsky, Managing Director for Research at EDB, said.

The research reviews possible schemes of cooperation between the Customs Union/CES and Armenia, Moldova and Tajikistan. The authors propose to launch a Eurasian Partnership programme to foster deeper integration and multilateral cooperation. This programme could be used to develop both bilateral and multilateral relationships taking into account the specifics of each partner. These could be structured based on agreements and joint plans of action (as in the European Neighbourhood Policy) and on the participation in joint programmes.

«A flexible and pragmatic approach should be used to develop relationships between the CES and the countries of the Eurasian continent. Our report proposes a wide range of approaches to building economic integration based on international experience in this area,» Evgeny Vinokurov, Director of the Centre for Integration Studies, said.