Kazakhstan against enlargement of trilateral Customs Union
Kazakhstan is gainst allowing other CIS memebers into the Customs Union. At least so far.

Kazakhstan against enlargement of trilateral Customs Union

Mar 17, 2010 at 15:25 | Interfax-Ukraine
Minsk, March 17 (Interfax) - Decisions to allow other CIS member states to join the Customs Union being created by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan would be undesirable at this stage, Kazakh Ambassador to Belarus Anatoly Smirnov said in Minsk on March 17.

"At the current stage, any hasty decisions regarding the enlargement of the Customs Union would be inappropriate. The existing member states need to learn to operate as a union and to resolve all present-day problems related to the formation of the Customs Union and the future Common Economic Space," Smirnov said.

Ukraine and other CIS states could be admitted to the Customs Union at some point in the future, he said.

The decision made by the governments of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to support their national economies at the first stage of the Customs Union's functioning is right, the ambassador said.

The Customs Union member countries have until 2012 to form their Common Customs Space, which will facilitate the free movement of goods, capital, investment and workforce, he said.

CIS member states have already shown serious interest in the trilateral Customs Union, Yury Andreyev, the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly's representative in the CIS Executive Committee, told journalists.

"This interest is high, although no official statements ,announcing plans to join this structure, have been made yet," Andreyev said.

related news