Meeting of Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Saint Petersburg

The items on the agenda of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting focus entirely on practical issues, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said during the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in narrow format in Saint Petersburg on 21 December.

“The items on the agenda of today’s meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council focus entirely on practical issues,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

The President outlined the need to develop approaches for boosting trade and economic cooperation with third countries for the upcoming five-year period. “Belarus fully supports the pursuit to find new partners among the states of the Global Majority and to advance into world regions that respect and welcome us,” the head of state stated.

The Belarusian leader identified boosting tourism cooperation as a key driver of economic growth for the five EAEU countries. A corresponding concept for the development of this area within the EAEU was prepared for the summit. The agenda also includes the approval of the EAEU budget for 2026.

The Belarusian President also highlighted another key item on the agenda: the EAEU chairmanship in 2026, which is to pass from Belarus to Kazakhstan. In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko congratulated the leader of that country Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. “I am confident that Astana’s chairmanship will bring new powerful impulses to the development of Eurasian economic integration, as it always has,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian President urged to develop approaches to building trade and economic cooperation with third countries in the coming five years. “Belarus fully upholds the search for new partners among the Global Majority nations and the expansion into those regions of the world where we are respected and welcome,” the head of state remarked.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that the meeting’s agenda consists of purely practical matters. He expressed hope that the EAEU heads of state would fully utilize this opportunity to openly discuss all pressing issues and to make decisions that will secure a balance between national and collective interests while steadily advancing toward shared integration goals.

The head of state noted that despite all the achievements, the EAEU still has problems to solve. “No matter how much we talk about positive things here, problems do exist. We are reviewing the basic agreements of 2014 enshrined in the Treaty on the EAEU. We are postponing the deadlines for the formation of common energy markets, markets for medications and medical devices, and we state that not all countries are ready to join the unified financial market,” he stressed.

The President pointed out that new obstacles are emerging on top of the existing ones hindering the free movement of goods in mutual trade. “The unilateral closure of national markets is no longer carried out only by traditional means, as we had before, like a ban on imports and exports or licensing. Digitalization tools are being adapted for this purpose,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

The head of state noted that the Belarusian side had initiated addressing the issue of digital barriers, at least at the level of recommendations. “But so far we have not made much progress here either,” the Belarusian leader stated.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the development and execution of joint projects and programs also leaves much to be desired, although life itself opens up new avenues. Consolidation of efforts in these promising areas could deliver much greater benefits for the economies and peoples of the member states, the Belarusian President believes.

“Just consider areas like information and communication technologies, artificial intelligence, electric transport, microelectronics, robotics, and new materials,” the Belarusian leader listed the areas. At the same time, he stated, the measures agreed upon by the member states are increasingly turning into mere reviews, reports, and recommendations.

“At our last meeting, we agreed that the chairman of the board would deliver reports on the implementation of the strategy for 2020-2025. Instead, we got information as part of the general speech by the head of the commission,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “We spent ten times more time just discussing the salary level of the commission [referring to the EEC members] over these five years. Yet a number of the most important issues that we agreed to resolve five years ago are still in the draft stage.”

“The work on the action plan for the 2030 and 2045 declarations was approached with caution – as if afraid of committing too deeply to integration. This logically leads to the question: do the member states still possess the same political will to pursue the objectives they proclaimed when signing the EAEU Treaty?” the Belarusian President added.

The head of state emphasized that the issues which concerned the EAEU member states in 2014 are slowly being sidelined or buried under a pile of bureaucracy. “They need to be resolved. If so, then let’s get back to work with the same enthusiasm we started with. Now is exactly the time when countries are forming alliances to act with greater focus and assertiveness. This is the attitude we have in Belarus, and that is why I call on everyone to work towards integration. This is the essence of our union,” Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.