Nazarbaev says Eurasian Union will eventually be efficient
RFE/RL based on reporting by KazTAG and Interfax 26 February 2016, 16:17
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev says that despite the ongoing economic crisis faced by member-states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EES), the alliance's overall economic potential and market volume will remain resilient.
"I have absolutely no doubts about the eventual efficiency of our integration union," Nazarbaev said to the visiting chairman of the EES board, Tigran Sarkisian of Armenia, in Astana on February 25.
Nazarbaev added that the EES membership meant not only the use of integration's opportunities but the necessity to contribute to its further development.
The EES was built on the foundation of a customs union between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. It formally came into existence in January 2015.
Armenia and Kyrgyzstan joined the EES in 2015.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tried to use the EES to bolster Moscow's influence in the former Soviet Union and counter the EU and NATO.
