Srikandi גבורה . . .: RUSIA, Belarus, Kazakhstan tanda 'ZAMAN' Kesatuan EKONOMI Nasaro TIMUR . . .

Srikandi גבורה - Rusia, Belarus dan Kazakhstan menandatangani Kesatuan Ekonomi Nasrani yang bersejarah yang akan berkuat kuasa pada Januari 2015. Mengurangkan halangan perdagangan dan yang terdiri daripada lebih daripada 170 juta orang ia akan menjadi pasaran bersama yang terbesar di bekas Soviet sphere.

"Perjanjian menandatangani-sahaja - adalah ZAMAN - membuat, kepentingan yang bersejarah," kata Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin.

Negara-negara Troika akan bekerjasama dalam tenaga, industri, pertanian, dan pengangkutan.

"Malah, kami membentuk pasaran bersama yang terbesar di CIS, dengan pengeluaran yang besar, potensi sains dan teknologi dan sumber asli yang sangat besar," tambah Presiden.

Warga Rusia, Belarus, dan Kazakhstan akan mempunyai hak untuk bekerja dengan bebas di seluruh negara-negara anggota tanpa perlu mengeluarkan sebarang permit kerja khas, kata Putin.

Sepanjang 3 tahun lepas, dagangan dalam Kesatuan Kastam telah meningkat sebanyak $ 23 bilion, atau hampir 50 % peratus. Pada akhir tahun 2013, ia adalah sebanyak $ 66.2 billion.

Belarus dan Kazakhstan berada di tempat yang ke-3 dalam perdagangan asing dengan Persekutuan Rusia, selepas Kesatuan Eropah dan China, kata Putin.

Pemimpin Rusia berkata bahawa dokumen itu membawa Rusia, Kazakhstan dan Belarus ke tahap yang baru integrasi ya membolehkan setiap negeri individu sepenuhnya menge-kalkan kedaulatannya.

"Kami memastikan kerjasama ekonomi rapat dan koheren dan kerjasama. Hari ini kita telah mewujudkan satu pusat yang kuat dan menarik di pembangunan ekonomi, pasaran yang besar serantau yang membawa bersama-sama lebih daripada 170 orang. Kesatuan kita mempunyai rizab yang besar sumber asli, termasuk tenaga, yang menyumbang 1/5 daripada rizab gas DUNIA dan 15 % peratus daripada rizab minyak," kata Putin.

Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin, Presiden Kazakh Nursultan Nazarbayev dan Presiden Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko (dari kanan ke kiri) pada mesyuarat Majlis Ekonomi Eurasia Agung di Astana, Kazakhstan (Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko (from right to left) at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana, Kazakhstan (RIA Novosti/Michail Klimentyev)

"Satu realiti geopolitik baru abad yang ke-21 dilahirkan," Kazakh Presiden Nursultan Nazarbayev berkata tidak lama selepas perjanjian akhir telah ditandatangani oleh ketiga-tiga pemimpin.

"Kami melihat ini sebagai satu ruang terbuka dan sebuah jambatan baru antara ekonomi berkembang di Eropah dan Asia," tambah Nazarbayev.

David Gray, ketua PricewaterhouseCoopers, Russia, berkata beliau berharap meningkat-kan perdagangan akan membantu meningkatkan pelaburan, seperti dalam EU.

"Jika anda melihat penggunaan di EU, sebagai contoh, pengurangan halangan perda-gangan dalam EU mempunyai kesan yang ketara dari segi menjalankan perniagaan, yang tidak menggalakkan pelaburan. Dan saya tidak sabar untuk keputusan yang sama dari segi perjanjian Eurasia (Nasaro), "kata Gray semasa bercakap kepada RT pada Forum Ekonomi St Petersburg pada 24 Mei.

Walau bagaimanapun, Kazakh Presiden Nazarbayev memberi amaran ahli untuk mencuba dan mengelakkan mengulangi kesilapan Kesatuan Eropah, yang masih menghadapi kesan-kesan kubur ekonomi daripada kemelesetan antarabangsa yang luas itu.

"Pokoknya adalah bahawa tidak ada negara-negara yang mengambil bahagian tertakluk kepada De-perindustrian, tidak mengalami dan industri tradisional. Pengajaran daripada kemelesetan Eropah dalam hal ini," kata Nazarbayev.

Presiden Belarus Lukashenko mengalukan menandatangani perjanjian tersebut, tetapi berkata masih kerja utama yang perlu dilakukan dalam bidang perdagangan 2 hala.

"Kami percaya Kesatuan Ekonomi akan menjadi asas untuk masa depan perpaduan politik, ketenteraan dan kemanusiaan," katanya.

Kesatuan Kastam adalah satu projek untuk mengumpul negeri bekas Soviet ke dalam zon perdagangan bebas untuk menyaingi Kesatuan Eropah. Ketiga-tiga negara anggota Rusia, Belarus dan Kazakhstan hanya terdiri daripada 2.5 % peratus kepada penduduk bumi, tetapi akaun untuk 15 % peratus daripada jumlah tanah.

"Kedudukan geografi membolehkan kita untuk mewujudkan pengangkutan, laluan logistik bukan sahaja serantau, tetapi juga global kepentingan yang membenarkan menarik aliran perdagangan secara besar-besaran di Eropah dan Asia," kata Putin lebih awal daripada majlis itu di Astana, Kazakhstan pada Khamis.

Semua negara anggota akan mengekalkan kedaulatan negara penuh. Rusia membiayai bahagian besar daripada pentadbiran, tetapi setiap negeri akan mempunyai status mengundi 1/3.

"Kesatuan Ekonomi Nasrani akan beroperasi pada prinsip-prinsip telus universal difa-hami oleh semua, termasuk standard dan prinsip-prinsip WTO," kata Putin.

(Kiri-Kanan) Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin, Presiden Nursultan Nazarbayev dari Kazakhstan dan Presiden Alexander Lukashenko Belarus semasa peluang foto bersama sebelum mesyuarat tetap Majlis Ekonomi Eurasia (Nasaro) Agung di Astana (L-R) Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus during a joint photo opportunity before a regular meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Astana. (RIA Novosti/Michael Klimentyev)

Idea mewujudkan blok perdagangan serantau pertama kali dicadangkan oleh Presiden Nursultan Nazabayev Kazakhstan kembali pada tahun 1994, apabila dia memberikan ucapan di State University Moscow. Kesatuan Kastam bermula pada 1 Januari, 2010, dan mula beroperasi di bawah kod kastam yang menyeluruh pada bulan Julai 2011.

Komanwel Negara-negara Merdeka (CIS) seperti Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan dan boleh dibawa ke dalam ZON perdagangan bebas kemudian.

Kyrgyzstan merancang untuk menyertai Kesatuan Kastam pada akhir 2014, Presiden Almazbek Atambayev berkata pada mesyuarat itu.

Satu keputusan mengenai keahlian Armenia ini perlu dibuat pada Julai 2014, kata Presiden Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazabayev.

Mengulas mengenai hakikat Ukraine sekali mahu menyertai, Lukashenko berkata lambat laun, kepimpinan negara akan menyedari" di mana kebahagiaan mereka terletak", dan apa yang "tepat untuk rakyat Ukraine."

"Kami kehilangan beberapa [potensi negara anggota] sepanjang jalan. Ukraine mula bekerja keras ini dengan kami, tetapi ia adalah amat sukar untuk Ukraine," kata Presiden Belarusia.

Jiran yang kaya dengan minyak Azerbaijan tidak membuat satu langkah yang tegas ke arah sama ada Kesatuan Kastam atau integrasi Kesatuan Eropah.

Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan sign ‘epoch'

Eurasian Economic Union . . .

Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan signed the historic Eurasian Economic Union which will come into effect in January 2015. Cutting down trade barriers and comprising over 170 million people it will be the largest common market in the ex-Soviet sphere.

"The just-signed treaty is of epoch-making, historic importance," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

The troika of countries will cooperate in energy, industry, agriculture, and transport.

"In fact, we are shaping the largest common market in the CIS, with huge production, scientific and technological potential and enormous natural resources," the President added.

Citizens of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan will have the right to work freely throughout the member states without having to be issued any special work permits, Putin said.

Over the last three years, trade within the Customs Union has increased by $23 billion, or nearly 50 percent. At the end of 2013, it stood at $66.2 billion.

Belarus and Kazakhstan are in third place in foreign trade with the Russian Federation, after the EU and China, Putin said.

The Russian leader said that the document brings Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus to a new level of integration yes lets each individual state fully retain its sovereignty.

“We ensure a close and coherent economic collaboration and cooperation. Today we have created a powerful and attractive center of economic development, a large regional market that brings together more than 170 people. Our union has huge reserves of natural resources, including energy, which accounts for one fifth of the world’s gas reserves and 15 percent of oil reserves,” Putin said.

"A new geopolitical reality of the 21st century is born,” Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said shortly after the final treaty was signed by the three leaders.

“We see this as an open space and a new bridge between the growing economies of Europe and Asia,” Nazarbayev added.

David Gray, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Russia, said he hoped improving trade will help boost investment, as in the EU.

“If you look at the EU, for example, the reduction of trade barriers within the EU had a significant impact in terms of doing business, which does encourage investment. And I’m looking forward to similar results in terms of the Eurasia deal,” Gray said while speaking to RT at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on May 24.

However, Kazakh President Nazarbayev warned members to try and avoid repeating the mistakes of the European Union, which is still facing grave economic consequences from the continent-wide recession.

“The point is that none of the participating countries were subject to de-industrialization, and traditional industries did not suffer. Lessons from the European recession are in this,” Nazarbayev said.

Belarusian President Lukashenko hailed the signing, but said there was still major work to be done in areas of bilateral trade.

“We believe the Economic Union will be the foundation for the future of political, military, and humanitarian unity,” he said.

The Customs Union is a project to gather ex-Soviet states into a free trade zone to rival the European Union. The three member states of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan only comprise 2.5 percent to the Earth’s population, but account for 15 percent of the total land.

"The geographical position permits us to create transport, logistic routes of not only regional, but also global importance that permits attracting massive trade flows in Europe and Asia," Putin said ahead of the signing ceremony in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday.

All member states will retain full state sovereignty. Russia is financing the lion’s share of the administration, but each state will have a one-third voting status.

“The Eurasian Economic Union will operate on universal transparent principles understood by all, including standards and principles of the WTO,” Putin said.

The idea of creating a regional trading bloc was first suggested by President Nursultan Nazabayev of Kazakhstan back in 1994, when he gave a speech at Moscow State University. The Customs Union began on January 1, 2010, and started operating under a compre-hensive customs code in July 2011.

Commonwealth Independent States (CIS) like Armenia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan may be brought into the free trade zone later.

Kyrgyzstan plans to join the Customs Union by the end of 2014, President Almazbek Atambayev said at the meeting.

A decision on Armenia's membership will have to be made by July 2014, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazabayev said.

Commenting on the fact Ukraine once wanted to join, Lukashenko said sooner or later, the country’s leadership will realize “where their happiness lies”, and what is “right for the Ukrainian people.”

“We lost some [potential member states] along the way. Ukraine started this hard work with us, but it was very difficult for Ukraine,” the Belarusian president said.

Neighboring oil-rich Azerbaijan hasn’t made a decisive move towards either the Customs Union or European Union integration.