Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov 30 /Trend A.Akhundov/
The main advantage for Kyrgyzstan in joining the Customs Union (CU) is a free entry of Kyrgyz goods to the markets of these countries, Deputy Minister of Economic Regulation of Kyrgyzstan Oleg Pankratov told Trend in Baku.
"Geographical location of the country and its historical features are the reason why 80 percent of Kyrgyzstan's export goes to the CU countries. Creating the CU resulted in the emergence of barriers for our exporters and, after analysis, we concluded that it will be very advantageous for us to enter the CU. Therefore, we have reported this to the summit of Heads of Governments of the CIS and EurAsEC, held in St. Petersburg on October 19-20. Our proposal has been reviewed and approved in fact," Pankratov said.
According to Pankratov, it is only the first step, as the procedure of joining to the Customs Union are beginning
"The political will on our part was expressed and supported, and the procedures for accession will begin. In fact, the CU boundary lays between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, if we join the CU the boundary moves on our external borders. All that we have exported to the CU, will not actually pass any customs procedures, it is the main preference that we want to have," Pankratov said.
According to Pankratov, creating the working group is the first step in joining the CU.
"Now we're working on it. The working group must review our legislation and the legislation of CU to find the contradictions that exist, and prepare a report on what is needed to be done in order to join the CU. After this report, it will be clear how much time we will need to join the CU," Pankratov said.
The Government of Kyrgyzstan approved the interdepartmental commission on the accession to the CU.
According to the Ministry of Economic Regulation of Kyrgyzstan, trade with the Customs Union countries amounted to $2.238 million in 2010 and increased compared with 2009, to 8.4 percent. Exports amounted to more than $715 million (27.8 percent) and imports to $1.522 million (1.2 percent).
In the total foreign trade of Kyrgyzstan Customs Union countries hold 44.9 percent in export is 40.6 percent, import is 47.2 percent. The largest share of turnover in Kyrgyzstan occupies Russia (26.9 percent), Kazakhstan (16.8 percent) and Belarus (1.2 percent).
The CU is an interstate agreement on the establishment of the common customs area, which was signed by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The Treaty entered into force in July 2010.