The presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan gathered for a summit on Monday to discuss the three countries' integration within a common economic space and the Eurasian Economic Community, a post-Soviet economic bloc intended to promote cooperation both with Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the summit was intended to adopt "a package of important decisions on the launch of a new supranational body, the Eurasian Economic Commission, already this year, and the launch of the Common Economic Space as a whole."
Medvedev and his Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev are expected to approve on Monday a decision on enforcing agreements from next year on the free movement of goods, capital and workforce within the common economic space between the three former Soviet republics, make appointments to the Eurasian Economic Commission and adapt their customs union to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization.
In November, the Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh presidents signed a declaration on Eurasian economic integration, a roadmap of integration processes aimed at creating the Eurasian Economic Union, which will be based on the Customs Union and common economic space among the three countries.
Last Friday, WTO trade ministers accepted Russia’s bid to join the world trade club, which Russia had sought to join since 1993.
