Presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus meet to discuss Eurasian Economic Union

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev attended the sitting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing the President’s website. The sitting attended by President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Alexandr Lukashenko of Belarus dwelt on the current state and prospects of integration processes within the Customs Union of the three nations. Besides, they dwelt on preparations for launching the Eurasian Economic Union. “I hope we will be able to find consensus on all debatable issues. I am confident we should stick to the schedule to launch the Union (…) greater efforts should be taken to inform common people of the work done for the good of the nations involved into the economic integration”, President Nazarbayev said. Head of Kazakhstan emphasized that it is important to launch the Economic Union first rather than concentrate on further issues that may be dealt with later on. President Vladimir Putin of Russia stressed that the Customs Union had brought positive results: “despite the slowing growth rates of the global economy in 2013, the trio [Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus] was able to slightly increase the trade turnover to $64.1 billion. Russia appreciated the economic ties based on equal rights and openness”.