EAEU Intergovernmental Council discusses key aspects of Eurasian integration – food security, logistics and Eurasian brands

21 июня 2022
The problems of food security were discussed today in Minsk at the EAEU Intergovernmental Council. Belarus has good indicators of its own food fulfillment, and the format of the common Eurasian market makes it possible to successfully deal with the range of products in stores, even if the goods are not produced in one country or another. Thus, the union reduced the rates of import customs duties, and tariff preferences were granted to critical imported products. Today import substitution is coming to the forefront. What has already been done and which sectors are priorities? Transport corridors help building new routes as well. Svetlana Lukyaniuk continues.

Logistics plays an important role regarding food security issues. This is a challenge that many countries are now facing. The pandemic restrictions have severed previous route chains. In the Eurasian space, sanctions were added to them. The way out is the development of national transport systems proposed at the intergovernmental council.

Transport corridors

This year, 5 EAEU countries traded $5 billion in the first quarter. That's more than last year. But everyone is striving to increase the numbers. This means that fast delivery with convenient connections is more relevant than ever. Transport corridors in the EAEU and further along the international line North-South, West-East. The reorientation of flows is going on quickly. One of the proposals is the reconstruction of the M1 road to develop the Europe-Western China route, as well as a new railway line in the same direction. 

In view of the disruption of global supply chains, the EAEU countries are increasingly active in talking about the development of industrial cooperation and import substitution. The Prime Minister of Belarus expects that the agreements initiated by Belarus at the meeting of the EAEU Council in June will become the top-priority areas of work.

The EAEU expects to increase production by one and half times. The EAEU assures that there is the capacity for this. And domestic goods are a reserve for economic growth.

Today there are 170 projects on the industrialization map. These are in aviation and shipbuilding, automotive, light industry, and pharmaceuticals. But here it is important to combine ideas, technology, and capital. The format of the import substitution commission is changing in order to speed the process up.

One of the joint projects is the “Eurasian AgroExpress”. It is in the works. This is about food exports with optimized logistics costs. The EAEU countries are now harmonizing their supply balances. In general, as it was noted at the meeting, the Union mechanisms allow responding quickly to challenges and guaranteeing food security to all partners.

Consumer rights protection

The growth of industrial production in the EAEU in 4 months amounted to 4%. But more products on the market shouldn't raise more questions for consumers. Therefore unified protection measures are on the agenda. It was instructed to approve the program of joint actions until 2025.

The EAEU Intergovernmental Council will be held in Kyrgyzstan

All of these areas of EAEU work were included by the prime ministers in the final document. The analysis of what has been done is coming soon. The next meeting of the Intergovernmental Council will be held in Kyrgyzstan.