Post-Soviet trade bloc to embrace $3 trillion financial system

KAZAN, November 28. /TASS/. The post-Soviet trade bloc based on the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan will embrace a financial system worth $3 trillion, board member of the Eurasian Economic Commission Timur Suleimanov said at a forum on Eurasian economic integration on Friday. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is a new integration association, which will start functioning from January 1, 2015 instead of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), which officially ceased to exist on October 10. About a thousand banks with a capital of $250 billion are operating on the territory of the EEU member states, Suleimanov said. The credit institutions’ aggregate reserves stand at over $2 trillion while the EEU’s stock market is valued at over $1 trillion, he said. EEU member states’ mutual investments grew by 14 percent in 2013 from the previous year to $1.9 billion, he said. “The investment figure reflects the level of the countries’ mutual confidence,” Suleimanov said. The EEU labor market is estimated at 170 million people and accounts for about 2.5 percent of the global GDP. The Treaty on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union was signed by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014 in Astana. The agreement is the basic document defining the accords between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan for creating the Eurasian Economic Union for the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce and conducting coordinated, agreed or common policies in key sectors of the economy, such as energy, industry, agriculture and transport. The agreement stipulates the transition of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to the next stage of integration after the Customs Union and the common economic space. The document says that the union is open for accession by any state sharing the union’s goals and principles on the terms agreed by the member countries. The EEU members are currently Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. Kyrgyzstan is expected to join the union soon. Read more