Lukashenko named EAEU main achievement at summit in St. Petersburg
During today’s meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg, the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, named the main achievement of the work of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) over the past years
At the beginning of his speech, the Belarusian Head of State thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for the initiative to hold this meeting on the hospitable land in St. Petersburg, “I would especially like to note that the Russian side, presiding over the EAEU bodies this year, maintained a constructive atmosphere for effective joint work and productive dialogue across a wide range of areas.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the current meeting is significant to a certain extent, “Another stage of the Eurasian Economic Union development is coming to an end. Next year we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary [of the signing of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union]. We have been presented with an extensive and detailed report on the results of the EAEU’s work over the past period. We can assess the results, as well as to talk about ways to improve and about necessary solutions to problematic issues. I consider the stably functioning common internal market and the single customs space to be the main achievement (even with all its drawbacks). The EAEU’s trade turnover with external partners over the past seven years has increased by more than $340bn in absolute terms. The mutual trade has doubled and totalled about $85bn while Belarus-Russia bilateral trade will exceed $50bn this year.”
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the EAEU maintains a high level of self-sufficiency in raw materials and key types of food products, “The EAEU member states are ranked second worldwide in oil and gas production, the production of mineral fertilisers, and are placed third in the production of wheat, potatoes, and livestock products while occupying the fourth position in coal production.”
The President of Belarus recalled that at the very beginning of the EAEU’s functioning, there was a negative foreign trade balance for food products, which in 2015 amounted to almost $13bn, “Now, thanks to well-co-ordinated work within the EAEU, the imbalance has been eliminated and the food supply is in profit. This is the most important fact. We fed our own people and provide food to other countries. A high level of food self-sufficiency has been achieved, which, e.g., in Belarus is almost one hundred percent. Through our own production, we cover our internal needs for grain, pork, poultry, milk, vegetables, vegetable oils and other products.”
The Belarusian Head of State stressed that such results were achieved in very unfavourable external conditions, when our geopolitical competitors openly set out to separate and tear us apart, “However, we have overcome this challenge together and are steadily moving forward.”
