Putin invites Kiev to work with Customs Union at expert level
If Ukraine wants to take part in projects that Russia is carrying out with Belarus and Kazakhstan as part of the Customs Union, it is welcome to send expert-level delegations, the Russian president said Thursday, according to RIA Novosti.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly expressed interest – since several months before the EU deal was postponed – in attending Customs Union meetings as an observer and in joining separate agreements of the Customs Union.
“We are not obliging anyone to do anything, but if our friends would like to cooperate, we are ready to continue this work at an expert level,” Putin said during his annual presidential address to the Russian Federal Assembly, which comprises lawmakers from both chambers of the Russian parliament.
In 2011, leaders of the Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh presidents signed a declaration on Eurasian economic integration. The declaration is a roadmap of integration processes aimed at creating a Eurasian Economic Union based on the Customs Union and a common economic area between the three countries.
Putin said he expected the treaty’s wording to be finalized by May 2014. It will then be submitted to the three national parliaments for ratification.
“We will consistently promote the Eurasian [integration] process without setting it against other integration projects, including … the European one,” the president said.