Immediately upon the arrival at Minsk National Airport, the Presidents of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and the head of the Kyrgyzstan delegation went to the Palace of Independence. There, a narrow format troika meeting was followed by expanded format talks with the participation of other Presidents. Eurasian troika meeting held at Independence palace
The narrow format talks were dedicated to the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space. The CIS meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. According to the Belarusian President, the allies managed to work out the key principles of integration. Alexander Lukashenko also pointed out the willingness of Armenia and Kyrgyzstan to enter the integration project. Moreover, Turkey being a powerful economy and EU strategic partner is ready to join the Eurasian integration process and India wishes to develop a free trade zone with the Customs Union.
Alexander Lukashenko stressed that new barriers emerging in the Customs Union and Common Economic Space slow down the integration processes. Kazakhstan's President criticized the work of the Customs Union board.
Despite the objective criticism, the Eurasian integration is obviously a success. The three economies are growing with foreign trade turnover exceeding 600 billion dollars in the past 8 months.
An expanded meeting of the Eurasian troika with the Presidents of Armenia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and the head of the Kyrgyzstan delegation is taking place at the moment. For more details check the news channel Panorama. The CIS meeting is to take place tomorrow. For more details check the news channel Panorama.
