Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

With a relatively new history of membership at the Eurasian Economic Union, Kyrgyzstan believes that joining the Russia-backed economic club has garnered confidence in the nation’s economic stability.

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, who is the primary supporter of his country's accession to union, believes that Kyrgyzstan's EEU membership will take the food security issue off the table.

"The urgency of food security issues was removed with the accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. It is not necessary to worry as in the past about whether we will have enough wheat, we can import grain to the country, and bread will be on the table of our citizens," he said on August 31 during a speech for Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day, RIA Novosti reported.

Atambayev noted that one can confidently say that the policy to achieve real independence for the country has begun to bring tangible results: a strategic project on the creation of a country-wide electricity grid has been completed and the country has achieved energy independence.

Thus, all the cities and towns of the country "will be linked with united and inseparable highway network passing through our own territory," he boasted.

Kyrgyzstan's authorities also expect that with the construction of international highways, the country will become a transit corridor from China to Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

Negotiations on the construction of a railway from China to Iran, as well as from China to Uzbekistan passing through Kyrgyzstan are underway. Military reforms, which will ensure the country's security against external threats, are in full swing.

"Now the issue of achieving the economic and financial independence of the country comes to the forefront," he said. "Absolutely favorable conditions should be created for those who want to do business [in Kyrgyzstan]."

Atambayev is keen on turning his country into a haven for business. "Those who prevent the development of the country's economy are the enemies of our country, and the enemies of our independence."

In July 2015, Kyrgyzstan officially became a member of the Russia-backed EEU. Experts believe that joining such the union was the right decision, and that there exists no equivalent alternative to it.

Kyrgyzstan's membership in the EEU assures deepening integration between Kyrgyzstan and the EEU member states, providing a free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor.

The country's development of agricultural production, improving technologies, and trade relationships with foreign markets will move to the next level with Kyrgyzstan's integration into the EEU.

Kyrgyzstan, as a mountainous country whose agricultural sector accounts for approximately 24 percent of the country's GDP, will gain access to supplies of mineral fertilizers, machinery, crop protection, and high-yield seeds from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Also, Kyrgyzstan's integration to the EEU will mean the introduction of a single customs tariff, a single system of economic protection measures, sanitary regulations, veterinary control, and a single policy for relations with foreign markets.

In socio-economic terms, the removal of customs barriers and the growth of mutual trade will open up investment flows from the more economically developed countries of the EEU to Kyrgyzstan.

EEU accession also ensures that Kyrgyz migrants acquire a facilitated permission for employment in Kazakhstan and Russia, which promises stable income to the country and once more encourages Bishkek in its EEU move.

As of today, almost a million Kyrgyz migrants live and work in Russia. This is a figure large enough for a country like Kyrgyzstan, which has a population of 5.5 million people.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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