Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 20th / Trend, V. Zhavoronkova /
Tajikistan's accession to the Customs Union (CU) of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) is a chance for it to solve its problems, the executive director of the Center for Political Science "North-South" Aleksey Vlasov said.
Tajikistan is ready for practical work on its accession to the Customs Union, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said on Wednesday, noting that the country is ready to establish a working group.
Secretary General of EurAsEC Tair Mansurov positively evaluated the prospects of accession of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to the CU. He noted that Kyrgyzstan is a member of the WTO and it will be easier for the country to join the Customs Union, given it was created based on the WTO's own regulations.
"Becoming a part of a larger project doesn't solve all problems experienced by Tajikistan, but provides an opportunity to do that," member of Trend Expert Council Agency, Vlasov said.
According to him, the accession of Tajikistan to larger integration projects is a plus.
"On one hand, (this is) only because member-states of the Eurasian project receive considerably higher preference from Russia," the expert added.
"To Tajikistan, for example, this will be free movement in the overall labor market," - he said.
According to Vlasov, it is no secret that Tajikistan is one of the most common origins of migrant workers.
According to the expert, questions around social and economic vectors in Tajikistan are very serious, because the country is not abound in resources, there is a constant threat from Afghanistan and there are threats from drug trafficking activity and unsolved energy issues.
"Kyrgyzstan's aspirations and its attempt to modify the economic model for modernization rather than relying on remnants of the Soviet economic system provide great opportunities for Dushanbe," Vlasov said.
The Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus was established in 2010. The purpose of the CU is the formation of a single customs territory, within which no customs duties or economic limitations are applied, excluding special protective, antidumping and countervailing measures. The single economic space of the Customs Union started operating on January 1st, 2012.