BISHKEK, December 11. /ITAR-TASS/. A meeting devoted to the participation of Kyrgyzstan in integration processes was held in the country’s capital on Wednesday with the participation of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev. Its participants criticised the roadmap for the country’s admission to the Customs Union, the information policy department of the Kyrgyz president’s staff told Itar-Tass.
“At the meeting, First Deputy Prime Minister Dzhoomart Otorbayev informed the president and meeting participants that the roadmap for Kyrgyzstan’s admission to the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus was adopted by the Eurasian Economic Commission without agreement with the Kyrgyz side,” the department said. “The proposed roadmap fails to meet Kyrgyzstan’s interests, it was finalised without the participation of experts from the Kyrgyz side and was approved by the Eurasian Economic Commission without official agreement with the government of Kyrgyzstan,” the department quotes the first deputy premier. He also said that in its current form the roadmap “is totally unacceptable” for the Kyrgyz side and cannot be adopted, as this might cause considerable social problems in the country. Otorbayev also said that this conclusion had been “made by the ad hoc interdepartmental commission.”
According to the first deputy premier, the Kyrgyz government has sent its version of the roadmap to the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. It reflects the position and interests of the republic and should be taken as a basis for the continuation of the negotiating process on Kyrgyzstan’s admission to the Customs Union, the department added.
It also said that the president, summarising the meeting results, stressed that Kyrgyzstan would participate in integration processes with other states only “with due regard for the country’s national interests” and “not to the detriment of social stability” in the republic. Atambayev also gave instructions “to continue intensive work in this sphere with the Eurasian Economic Commission.”
The Kyrgyz government had taken a decision to join the economic union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in spring 2011. Six months later, Minsk, Astana and Moscow approved the application of the Kyrgyz side, after which consultations on the technical and organisational issues were started at the expert groups’ level. They also determined the list of Kyrgyzstan’s regulatory documents that should be brought in line with the Customs Union requirements. At these meetings, Kyrgyz government officials repeatedly stated that entering the organisation, the republic expected to get a number of preferences from the partners, in particular, a deferment of the introduction of standard tariffs related to the operation of some sectors. Kyrgyz Economy Minister Temir Sariyev had previously said that the roadmap should be adopted by all the stakeholders by January 1, 2014.