Meeting in Moscow: Lukashenka’s crooked grin (Photo)

On 19 March in Moscow a session of the International council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC) was held.

It was attended by the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as heads of observer-states - Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev suggested his colleagues discussing a new agenda. “The main point on our agenda is the follow-up on the agreements made during the session of the EEC International council from 19 December 2011 when the re-organization of the EEC was discussed. I’d like to remind what was going on then: we discussed the issue, made suggestions, even then, to immediately eliminate the EEC, but then after a number of consultations we agreed that this process should be carried out in a civilized manner within certain boundaries,” Medvedev said.

This is the first meeting of this format that the leaders have had since the introduction of the single market for the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia on 1 January 2012.

The agreement to establish the EEC was signed on 10 October 2000 in Astana and became valid on 30 May 2011 after ratification by all country-members. Since its foundation, the EEC has comprised five states – Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Since May 2002, Ukraine and Moldova have acted as observer-states, and in January 2003 they were joined by Armenia. The International Aviation Committee and the Eurasian Bank for Development enjoy observer status.

The Eurasian Economic Commission was established to maintain the integration processes within the Customs Union and the Single Economic Space. The commission is headquartered in Moscow and chaired by Viktor Khristenko who used to be Russia’s Minister of Industry and Trade.