Head of EDB takes part in the discussion of integration at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
Almaty, 21 June 2013. Igor Finogenov, Chairman of Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Management Board, took part in The Customs Union and the CES: Status and Future Developments briefing included in the programme of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which is taking place at the moment.
The participants discussed the advancement of integration in the CIS and the arrangement of quality operation of integration mechanisms.
The current integration architecture has been expanded with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and the Common Economic Space (CES), which has given a new impetus for promoting integration and consolidation in the post-Soviet space. The CES, the principle of which is to remove all barriers and obstacles to the movement of goods, services, capital and individuals, opens new opportunities for the optimisation of supply and demand, the promotion of competitiveness and the creation of new markets with uniform requirements and standards. The functioning Customs Union and the emerging CES are capable of creating a strong synergetic effect throughout the Commonwealth and stimulating other countries for closer interaction. The openness of these structures to new members when the relevant economic interest appears forms the basis for the establishment in the future of a wide economic convergence zone in Eurasia.
The significance of these issues has been confirmed by the fact that the discussion was very proactive and polemical, especially the discussion of technical regulations and the system of single supervisory bodies of the CES between businesspeople and ministers of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Additional Information
Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth, and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB’s charter capital exceeds US $1.5 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
Read more about EDB at https://www.eabr.org