EAEU minister speaks about expectations of Belarus' EAEU presidency

“Not only me, but also many others expect a breakthrough and implementation of main freedoms, namely the freedom of movement of goods, workforce, finances and services. These fundamental tasks are of strategic importance. It took Europe five or six decades to achieve them. We are trying to do this within five years and to speed up the process as much as we can. Something is easier, something is harder. Anyway, we are still moving ahead of schedule and we keep studying the best practices and mistakes of our counterparts,” Aleksandr Subbotin said.

Speaking about successes of the Eurasian integration in manufacturing and agriculture, the minister pointed to two important achievements. As far as the agricultural sector is concerned, the parties signed a highest-level agreement on uniform requirements to production and distribution of seeds and pedigree stock. This will allow reducing the export of high-quality genetic material. “Nearly all seeds and pedigree stock are purchased from abroad, in other words, we are getting more dependent on imports; the quality and yield depend on what they sell us. If political sanctions are imposed, we will no longer be able to import these products. Therefore, it is very important to have uniform requirements all over the EAEU, so that Belarusian seeds that got a quality certificate in Belarus will not have to undergo additional certification in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. This will make the whole process easier, faster and more efficient for farmers,” Aleksandr Subbotin explained.

Another important achievement is an engineering center for machine tool industry that was registered in the summer of 2019. “The machine tool industry is the most innovative and technology-intensive industry. It was calculated that one job in this industry generates six or seven jobs in other industries. All the member states have already got involved in the work of this center. It will help find where a certain machine tool is produced so that the EAEU members will not have to purchase them from abroad. If we run a joint project, we can borrow something, for example, a technology from Belarus or Kazakhstan, and supply a finished product to a factory in Smolensk or some other city,” Aleksandr Subbotin said.

The single digital system of promoting cooperation in manufacturing helps adopt new technology, which facilitates cooperation between companies and regions of the Eurasian Economic Union. This platform has brought together 6,000 companies. Their number is expected to increase up to 50,000 by the end of next year. In other words, a conglomerate of manufacturers can communicate like through a messenger, find new friends, partners and thus facilitate the sale of goods, reduce the prime cost of products and increase product competitiveness. This will also allow entering the markets of regions like the Middle East and South America in the future.