Being in Yerevan on a working visit, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov took part in a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in an expanded format.
The event was also attended by Prime Ministers of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers - Head of the Presidential Administration of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Zhaparov, Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin, as well as representatives of the EAEU observer states, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba Julio Antonio Garmendia Peña.
In his speech, Alikhan Smailov noted that active work within the EAEU makes it possible to consistently and systematically solve the tasks of expanding mutual trade and industrial cooperation, developing transport logistics and other pressing issues of the population and business.
According to him, despite external challenges, Kazakhstan's mutual trade with the EAEU countries over 8 months of this year exceeded $17 billion, which is 5% more than in the same period last year. In general, since the establishment of the association, Kazakhstan has increased the export of processed products to the countries of the Union by 64%, while the range is expanding over time in favor of finished goods.
At the same time, the Prime Minister drew attention to the need to resolve the issue of the functioning of national regimes in public procurement of the EAEU member states.
“Technical and technological requirements, local content, even geographical restrictions - this is not a complete list of barriers that enterprises face when trying to participate in public procurement of partner countries,” said Alikhan Smailov.
He added that back in 2020, unified rules were adopted that provide for general requirements for the production of goods, but in less than 2 years they have been repeatedly changed and supplemented. According to Alikhan Smailov, this is due to the fact that additional requirements are often set bypassing the Rules.
“I think that in general it is necessary to adjust the principles of the functioning of the national regime in public procurement,” he said.
The Prime Minister also called on the EAEU countries to speed up work on the introduction of uniform vehicle passport forms and the organization of electronic passport systems, as well as to update technical regulations that directly affect the efficiency of the Union's common market.
“By forming a unified database of technical regulations, we pursued the goal of free circulation of goods that meet safety requirements. At the same time, the existing gaps in the regulation of the process of issuing certificates provide an opportunity to import goods on the basis of fictitious certificates,” Alikhan Smailov emphasized.
In this regard, he noted, at the initiative of Kazakhstan, an Action Plan was adopted to combat "gray" certificates.
“I am sure that only joint efforts and real actions of each of the parties will allow us to overcome the current challenges and achieve further development of the Eurasian Economic Union,” Alikhan Smailov concluded.
As part of his working visit to Yerevan, the Prime Minister also took part in a joint meeting of the heads of government of the EAEU countries with Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturian.
By the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda
