SOCHI, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will allocate $500 million to speed up Kyrgyzstan’s integration into the Eurasian Economic Union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
“It will be Russia’s contribution into supporting the Kyrgyz economy so that it joined the Eurasian economic integration processes with maximum comfort,” Lavrov told journalists in Sochi following the results of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev.
Lavrov also stressed that the two countries had confirmed their plans in the sphere of military and technical cooperation within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Eurasian Economic Union (EAU) Treaty on May 29, which is to enter into force on January 1. The creation of the Union paves the way for a new higher level of integration between the member countries of the Customs Union, which was formed by the three countries in 2010 and serves as the basis for the Eurasian Economic Union.
The EAU would create a single economic market of 170 million people, potentially a new powerful center of economic development.
Following the agreement between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz president said that his country was planning to join the Eurasian Economic Union by the end of the year. Moscow and Bishkek have agreed to create a fund aimed at helping Kyrgyzstan integrate into the Customs Union, according to Atambayev.
