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Putin hopes Eurasian Economic Union agreement to be signed by May 2014

NOVO-OGAREVO, March 05. /ITAR-TASS/. President Vladimir Putin hopes that the agreement on the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union will be signed before May 2014 and will become effective from January 2015.

The common goal of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan is to move on to a higher level of cooperation, which should be facilitated by the new union, Putin said at a summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on Wednesday, March 5.

“To do that we will have to meet the set deadlines and complete the drafting of the agreement by May,” he said, adding that this work had been accelerated in December 2013.

The institutional part of the agreement should determine the legal status and organizational framework of the union, and lay down the main principles of its work.

“The functional part will regulate mechanisms of economic cooperation,” the president added.

He stressed the need to guarantee “four freedoms”: free movement of goods, services, capital and labor among the member states. “It is important to set forth concrete obligations to eliminate exclusions and limitations remaining in the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space,” Putin said.

He believes that the European Economic Union needs to be granted broad powers in the field of economic regulation. “This will allow [us] to carry out a common and coordinated policy in key industries, raise the sustainability and development potential of the national economies, create a large common market and bring in additional investments,” the head of state said.

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