BISHKEK, September 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Moscow-led Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and a wider planned common economic space next January is nearing fulfillment as the central Asian republic completes domestic procedures inside the timescale agreed with partners, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
“We are ready to adopt all necessary documents necessary by January 1,” Kyrgyzstan’s Prime Minister Dzhoomart Otorbayev told a business development and investment meeting, adding that the republic’s government had already drafted laws necessary for accession to the union and submitted them for parliament’s consideration.
“Our main tasks now are to make our economy more open and to improve control over the quality of manufactured products,” Otorbayev said. No serious obstacles existed to prevent Kyrgyzstan’s entry into the alliance, he added.
The Kyrgyz authorities decided to join the Customs Union in the spring of 2011. Six months later, the former Soviet republic filed an official request for accession. Its government is currently aligning legislation with that of the Customs Union and the common economic space. A roadmap plan for integration approved by all interested parties says Kyrgyzstan will join by January 1, 2015.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are also currently at work to ratify the treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union. It was signed by the presidents of three countries on May 29 in Kazakhstan’s Astana.
The Eurasian Economic Union, which envisages the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce and is based on the Customs Union, will become operational from January 1 next year.