MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan on Tuesday to attend a session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council there, the Kremlin press service said.
The main events of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit are scheduled for Wednesday, but the Russian leader will embark on a trip to Kazakhstan on Tuesday afternoon.
The current session will mark the fifth anniversary of EAEU, which comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It will focus on the Main guidelines for member-states’ macroeconomic strategy for 2019-2020, a wide range of other documents on liberalization of markets of goods and services and on cooperation in digital economy.
"Members of the Supreme Council will sum up the results of the EAEU work over five years and chart the tasks on expansion of cooperation in various fields, such as trade, economy, industry, finances, social politics," the Kremlin press service said. "A draft joint statement of heads of EAEU member-states has been prepared for signing. The Main guidelines for member-states’ macroeconomic strategy for 2019-2020, a wide range of other documents on liberalization of markets of goods and services, on cooperation in digital economy will also be approved."
Moreover, it is planned to consider the issues of EAEU’s international activities.
Kazakh Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said on Monday that documents regulating the creation of a common electricity market of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are planned to be signed during the summit.
"A number of international agreements regulating the issues connected with the formation of a common electric power market, mechanisms of traceability of goods supplied to the EAEU customs area, as well as the protocol on amendments to the Agreement on EAEU and the agreement on EAEU customs code will be signed," he said.
The joint statement, to be signed by the leaders, will become "a triumphant declaration to the global community about EAEU’s success and achievements for the five-year period of its work.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko may meet on the sidelines of the Nur-Sultan summit to discuss the delivery of Russian oil to Belarus, if they see fit.
Heads of EAEU member-states will participate in the summit. Moldovan President Igor Dodon and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon have also been invited to take part in the meeting as head of an EAEU observer-state and an honorary guest, respectively.
EAEU history
The declaration on Eurasian economic integration, which announced the creation of the EAEU, was signed in Moscow on November 18, 2011 by then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Treaty on the establishment of the EAEU on May 29, 2014 in the Kazakh capital Astana (now Nur-Sultan). Russia ratified it on October 3, 2014, Kazakhstan and Belarus did so six days later.
The EAEU officially came into existence on January 1, 2015, replacing the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC, active in 2000-2014). It was formed on the basis of the Customs Union of Russia and Belarus and the Eurasian Economic Space (also known as the Single Economic Space) of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Kyrgyzstan announced its plans to join EAEU in 2011, Armenia - in 2013. The treaty on Armenia’s accession was signed in Minsk on October 10, 2014 to come into force on January 1, 2015. A similar deal with Kyrgyzstan was inked on December 23, 2014 and came into force on August 12, 2015.