Azerbaijan, Baku, March 12 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
Kyrgyzstan's joining the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus will require
the restoration of the national industry of the country, Kyrgyz expert Sergey Masaulov said.
"Kyrgyzstan's joining the Customs Union will require the restoration of national industry and national production", Masaulov told Trend over phone today.
The Eurasian Economic Commission began considering Kyrgyzstan's application about joining the Customs Union. A decision was made to establish a working group that will deal with specific issues associated with Kyrgyzstan's joining the organization.
Official Bishkek announced about the beginning of the procedure of joining the Customs Union in spring 2011.
The expert said that the national production has practically disappeared in Kyrgyzstan. But re-exports of Chinese goods are widely developed in the country.
The need of restoring the national production is a positive trend, as it will lead to the preservation of the national economy, as well as Kyrgyzstan's position in the international community, Masaulov said.
However, this is not the only consequence of Kyrgyzstan's joining the organization.
"It is necessary to take into account the different consequences, for example, what will happen to the mass of people who have been accustomed to re-export for the last years, used to live on the resale of Chinese goods and their material well-being is based on this," Masaulov said.
He said that it is also unknown how Kyrgyzstan's joining the union will impact on prices, for example car prices.
The expert thinks that the process of Kyrgyzstan's joining the Customs Union is at the level of making the common statements and demonstrating the intentions now.
At present, the country needs an expert study of the joining mechanism. It is connected with the fact that Kyrgyzstan is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and it will have to agree on a lot of issues with its partners, he said.
"No immediate joining the union is expected," the expert said. "It is planned to conduct sufficiently long work associated with this, as Kyrgyzstan's joining the Customs Union is a challenge for the organization."
The Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus has been operating since 2010. It aims at forming a single customs zone where no duties or economic restrictions are applied, except special protective, antidumping and compensatory measures. The Common Economic Space within the Customs Union started to operate from Jan.1, 2012.