Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to create a special Customs Union "ministry"

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will create a special Customs Union “ministry,” Vedomosti writes. Draft agreement on Customs Union (CU) commission will be discussed in Almaty next week and can be approved at the Interstate Council of EurAsEC on October 18. It is expected that the commission’s council will include Vice-Prime-Ministers of Belarus (Sergey Rumas), Kazakhstan (Umirzak Shukeyev) and Russia (Igor Shuvalov). Russia will get 57 percent of votes in the council, while Belarus and Kazakhstan will have 21.5 percent each. According to some information, the ministry may be headed by Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Khristenko. The newspaper reports that one member of the board will become a chairman, while other ones will be “ministers.” Thus, six “ministers” will represent Russia and Belarus and Kazakhstan will be represented by two “ministers” each. The board will be a constant executive body of the commission. The draft agreement currently talks about 10 members that will be appointed according to the size of quotas with the account of respective contributions of the parties. Financing of the commission will be formed up by the parties’ contributions proportionally to the number of votes. According to preliminary calculations, the budget may be equal to $50-60 million. It is already known that the commission will be located in Moscow, EurAsEC court is based in Minsk and Eurasian Bank – in Almaty. If the board members have no place to live, the commission will have to provide them with accommodation out of its own budget. “Draft agreement on the CU commission is currently being reviewed,” adviser to Kazakhstan Ministry of Economic Integration Farida Batyrbayeva said. “It is too early to talk about concrete suggestions of Kazakhstan party.”