BISHKEK (TCA) — Around 50 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America have expressed interest in cooperating with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 15, Sputnik news agency reported.
“The EEU is steadily expanding its foreign ties. Some 50 European, Asian and Latin American states showed interest to cooperation with it,” Putin said at a roundtable meeting during the second day of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
The EEU and China are in talks to determine an agreement on trade and economic cooperation, Putin noted, adding that the Russia-led economic bloc was also discussing a free trade deal with Israel. Putin continued by saying that the EEU had also agreed to launch consultations with Egypt, Iran, India, Serbia and Singapore.
At the meeting, Putin also recalled a decision that was adopted in 2015, in which integration processes of both the Eurasian Economic Union and China’s new Silk Road Economic Belt project were combined.
The Eurasian Economic Union is aimed at developing intraregional economic ties and establishing the free flow of goods among its members: Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia.
On May 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will host the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2019, Xinhua reported.
