Topic of expanding Eurasian Economic Council powers needs to be considered - official

CHOLPON-ATA, August 9. /TASS/. The topic of expanding the powers of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) should be considered given the accumulated experience of its operations, First Deputy Chief of the Russian Government Staff Sergey Prikhodko said ahead of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's participation in the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council. "On the agenda of the session in Cholpon-Ata on August 9, a discussion on this matter is planned. However, in principle this topic deserves consideration given the accumulated experience of the Eurasian Economic Commission's operations. Moreover, external conditions are changing very swiftly, new economic spheres emerge requiring adequate regulation and consideration in the interests of integration," Prikhodko said. He reminded that at the time of the creation of the EAEU on 29 May 2014, supranational competencies in the sphere of digital development were not considered. He added that the EEC needs to have more powers necessary for forming a common digital space. The Declaration on further development of integration processes adopted at the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on 6 December 2018 outlines including education, science, healthcare, tourism, sports and inter-regional trade cooperation in the integration process. The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will work on joint projects in the spheres of green energy, energy saving, energy effectiveness, renewable energy sources, bioengineering, nanotechnologies, environmental protection, and so on. "These topics did not make it into the agreement on establishing the Union, but everybody understands that these are indispensable elements of integration. A roadmap is being developed up to 2025 listing concrete measures on their implementation. The EEC will play an important role as a supranational coordinating body," Prikhodko explained. "Russia proceeds from the assumption that providing the EEC Collegium with new instruments will increase the effectiveness of this supranational body and will allow to de-bureacratize the decision-making process," he concluded. Read more