Baku, Azerbaijan, June 10
By Aygun Badalova -Trend:
Kyrgyzstan plans to become a full-fledged member of the Customs Union until the end of this year, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev said in an interview with Itar-Tass.
"We will strive to fulfill all our obligations within the 'road map'," he said, adding that the document assumes completion of all preparatory activities by Kyrgyzstan until the end of 2014.
He also stressed that, unlike some of his political opponents, he endorses the idea of the country's joining the economic union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.
"Conceptual question here is whether we are creating an open economy or close ourselves from our most important economic partners," Otorbaev said. "But we are initially creating an open economy, and we believe that to erect barriers to our main foreign economic partners is fundamentally wrong approach," he added.
Otorbaev said that the current economic conditions in the country require "removing these barriers on the borders for full realization of a free trade concept".
As Otorbaev said the major advantage of this step is a fundamental improvement of investment climate in the country.
"Kyrgyzstan can be open for the enterprises interested not only in its domestic market but in Customs Union countries' markets as well," he said.
The Prime Minister said it was wrong to think that the prices on some products in the country may rise, if it joins the Customs Union.
"If we compare market prices with those of Moscow, Astana, Minsk and Bishkek, we can see that they do not differ much, and moreover, a number of major products in the Customs Union states are even cheaper, for example, bread, flour, eggs, etc," he said.