ST. PETERSBURG, December 26. /TASS/. The summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will take place in Igora, a year-round resort in Russia’s Leningrad Oblast, with Russian President Vladimir Putin attending.
Initially, the leaders of the five union member states were supposed to meet there in person. However, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had to cancel his visit to Russia after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
On Wednesday morning, Pashinyan said that on December 23 he tested positive for COVID-19, isolated himself for two days and worked from home. On Wednesday afternoon, Pashinyan said that his new test returned positive again, so he would continue working with restrictions until recovery. The Kremlin said that Pashinyan would have an opportunity to participate in the EAEU summit via a video linkup, but the premier himself did not specify how the infection may affect his plans.
Agenda
The meeting’s participants are expected to discuss guidelines for future integration processes and efforts to develop the union’s free trade zone. About 20 significant documents and decisions are to be adopted, including on granting Iran the status of an observer country.
The leaders will also outline the main areas of the union’s international activities in 2025, as well as the organization’s budget for the next year.
Belarus will assume the rotating presidency in the union on January 1, 2025. In this regard, President Alexander Lukashenko is expected to outline the priorities of his country’s chairmanship.
Not only the direct participants of the Union, but also observers - Uzbekistan and Cuba (Cuba's participation is planned in the form of a video address by the president) have been invited.
After the event, Putin will have a media availability to sum up the results of the informal CIS summit and the EAEU summit.
The EAEU is an international economic integration of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. It became operational on January 1, 2015. They are also members of the CIS. Currently, the CIS comprises 11 countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. De facto, Moldova and Ukraine have long been nominal participants and are not involved in the work of the association.
On Wednesday, Putin held a traditional informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in St. Petersburg. An informal meeting before the New Year is a long-standing tradition of the Commonwealth, and this year was no exception.