Eurasian economic integration

Eurasian integration has been taking shape since 1991, originally via the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991, as noted in the World Trade Organization report.

[1] Currently, integration is primarily implemented through organizations that are open to accession by any post-Soviet countries, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Through the signing of international agreements on trade, economic cooperation and integration, countries can achieve an increase in the efficiency of their economies, which suffered due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

On 18 October 1991, in the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace Mikhail Gorbachev and the leaders of eight Union republics (excluding Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan) signed the Treaty on the Economic Community.

According to the text, even before the disintegration of the Soviet Union and regardless of the fate of the Soviet Union, an economic community is being created by independent states in order to form a single market and conduct a coordinated economic policy as an essential condition for overcoming the crisis, preserving a single currency and free movement of goods and services.

The treaty was signed by the heads of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Mikhail Gorbachev, but was not ratified and implemented.

The inspirer of the Ashgabat statement, Nursultan Nazarbayev, informed his colleagues about the meeting with Yeltsin, during which the Russian president said that the creation of the commonwealth was not an accomplished fact, but only a proposal sent to the republics for consideration.

[23] On 2 April 1999, in Moscow, the presidents of 11 countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine signed a Protocol on Amendments and Additions to the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area of 15 April 1994[24] (Протокол о внесении изменений и дополнений в Соглашение о создании зоны свободной торговли от 15 апреля 1994 года).

According to the executive committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States, no one has ceased participation in the Protocol or suspended the application, while 1 reservation was made by Azerbaijan on non-application in relation to Armenia and 2 specific opinions were expressed by Georgia and Ukraine.

[25] In 2007, a scientific article evaluated the legal framework for free trade in the post-Soviet space as a particular blend of 'à la carte multilateralism' and multiple bilateralism.

[26] In October 2011, the new Commonwealth of Independent States Treaty on Free Trade Area was signed by eight of the eleven CIS prime ministers; Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Ukraine at a meeting in St. Petersburg.

Within its participant countries, state borders will cease to be an obstacle to the free movement of goods, services, labor and capital.

[37][38][39] The Eurasian Economic Community, founded in 2000, has assumed responsibility for the implementation of previous agreements, created supranational bodies and finally launched the long-delayed customs union in 2010.

Participation in agreements and stages of economic integration of post-Soviet states within the common market of CIS and EAEU. The principles of voluntary step-by-step multi-speed and multi-level integration are envisaged in the adopted multilateral documents.
The Protocol to the Agreement on the Creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States dated 21 December 1991. The information from the depository of the international agreement published on the Unified Register of Legal Acts and Other Documents of the Commonwealth of Independent States (under the executive committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States) as of 2024. [ 3 ]
Regional Trade Agreements Database of the World Trade Organization . [ 15 ]
Regional Trade Agreements Database of the World Trade Organization . [ 16 ]
Regional Trade Agreements Database of the World Trade Organization . [ 29 ]
Timeline of EAEU Integration from the World Trade Organization report. [ 1 ]
The 1995 Agreement on the bilateral Customs Union between Russia and Belarus [ 30 ] and the 1995 Agreement on the bilateral Customs Union between Kazakhstan and the combined customs territory of Russia and Belarus [ 31 ] in the database of international treaties of the Eurasian Economic Union [ 32 ]
Regional Trade Agreements Database of the World Trade Organization . [ 33 ]
Regional Trade Agreements Database of the World Trade Organization . [ 34 ]