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BISHKEK (TCA) — In the near future, the Eurasian Economic Union may become an open economic community, organically integrated into the world economic system as a reliable bridge between Europe and growing Asia, said the initiator of the EEU creation, the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — The eighth Russia–Kyrgyzstan Interregional Conference ‘Towards New Horizons of Strategic Partnership and Integration’ will be held in Bishkek on 27–28 March. The event is being organized by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Economy of the Kyrgyz Republic with the support of the Roscongress Foundation. The event is timed to coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Kyrgyzstan. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Success of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in achieving its ambitious goals will depend on business. To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the relationship between government agencies, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and the business community, Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov said at the Business Eurasia economic forum, held on January 24 in Bishkek. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — 2018 was difficult for the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Some analysts say that this union is in crisis since certain conflicts have arisen between the former Soviet republics. Nevertheless, there were positive results. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — The member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia — may in the future abandon border procedures on inner frontiers and adopt a single currency by analogy with the legislation of the European Union, Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbai Jeenbekov told Rossiya-24 television on December 3, Russia’s TASS news agency reported. Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — It is now becoming more difficult for Kazakhstan to balance its multi-vector foreign policy when it comes to Astana’s relations with Moscow and Washington. We are republishing this article on the issue, written by George Voloshin: Relations between the United States and Russia have continued to deteriorate in 2017 and 2018. In August 2017, US President Donald Trump signed into law a new bill called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which extended the post-2014 Ukraine sanctions and enlarged their extraterritoriality. Among other points found in the law, it enables the administration to sanction foreign buyers of Russian military equipment. This situation cannot be more worrying for neighboring Kazakhstan, a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) military alliance and a regular buyer of discounted Russian weapons. The Central Asian country had earlier found itself in a difficult predicament over the annexation of Crimea. Astana had abstained from a vote on a 2014 United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning the occupation of Crimea by Russian armed forces. And most recently, in December 2017, it was one of 26 UN members that came out against a new resolution criticizing the human rights abuses and ethnic and religious discrimination on the peninsula. India, China, Cuba, North Korea, Serbia and South Africa also voted against (Informburo.kz, December 20, 2017; Interfax, August 2, 2017; Zakon.kz, March 28, 2014). Astana has traditionally stuck to a multi-vector foreign policy predicated on the idea of maintaining good relationships with partners big and small, close and remote. Indeed, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s official visit to Washington, DC, in January 2018, was meant to establish a direct connection at the highest level to the Trump administration. Nevertheless, this balanced foreign policy orientation has not been sufficient to safeguard Kazakhstan from dangerous economic exposure to Western sanctions against Russia. And now, the US Congress is considering adopting several new, even more punitive anti-Russian sanctions bills. In particular, the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act (DASKAA)—dubbed a “bill from hell”—could complicate the situation for Kazakhstan further (Zn.ua, September 3; Kp.ru, January 17). The Russian ruble has been steadily losing ground since the beginning of 2018. It cost around 57 rubles to buy 1 US dollar in January, whereas the current exchange rate is almost 66 to 1. The ruble volatility can, of course, be attributed to a host of other factors not directly related to Western sanctions, such as the price of oil, especially owing to the key role it plays in Russia’s budget and export revenue. However, the spot price of crude has been improving since June 2017, when it hovered around $44 per barrel, reaching as high as $85 per barrel on October 3, 2018. The ruble’s current weakness, in turn, has negatively impacted a neighboring currency, the Kazakhstani tenge. Kazakhstan is Russia’s closest trading partner in the former Soviet space and is itself a major exporter of hydrocarbons, primarily crude oil. Despite the ongoing oil price recovery, the tenge has depreciated from...
