Almaty, 12 October 2011. Today, the first session of the Centre for Integration Studies’ Scientific Council will be held in Almaty, chaired by Sergey Glazyev, Chairman of the Council and Executive Secretary of the EurAsEC Customs Union Commission. The staff of the Scientific Council was approved by the EDB Council this June. It includes representatives from the leading research institutions from Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus.
The Council provides consultancy and advice, sets out the Centre’s priorities, and examines the Centre’s researches. The first session of the Council plans to discuss the Centre’s goals, objectives and current projects.
“The Customs Union was launched in 2011. Less than in three months, seventeen Common Economic Space agreements will take effect. The organisational structure of the Eurasian Economic Union is being proactively worked on,” says Evgeny Vinokurov, Director of the Centre for Integration Studies. “However, state authorities, businesses and the expert community lack a profound, primarily quantitative analysis of what happens and how it can affect the economy. I am sure that the Centre will become a source of expert assessment of economic integration. By the end of this year, we will achieve our design capacity.”
The Centre for Integration Studies was opened in St. Petersburg this June. Its first project was to assess technical aspects of Kyrgyzstan joining the Customs Union. By December, the Centre will present a report on the large research project: A Comprehensive Analysis of Economic Effects of Various Forms of Deep Economic Integration between the Customs Union countries and Ukraine.
In addition, the Centre is assessing economic, institutional and legal effects of labour migration agreements adopted by the CES countries: the Agreement on the Legal Status of Labour Migrants and Their Families and the Cooperation Agreement on Counteracting Illegal Trade Migration from Third Countries. These agreements will take effect on 1 January 2012. By that time, the Centre will provide its expert assessment of whether these agreements foster labour migration processes in the CES.
An important project of the Centre is its joint work with the World Bank’s economists on the issues of trade integration between Russia and Central Asian countries. The research focuses on win-win integrations and the lowering of non-tariff barriers. The research is approaching its final stage and its results will be published before the end of the year.
In addition, the Centre is fulfilling some ongoing projects, including the System of Indicators of Eurasian Integration, the EDB Integration Barometer, and the Monitoring of CIS Mutual Investment.
Additional information
The EDB Centre for Integration Research was opened in St. Petersburg in June 2011. Its main objectives include the organisation of research and the preparation of reports and recommendations for the governments of the EDB member states on regional economic integration.
