From Single Economic Space Tо Eurasian Union

The meeting of the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in Moscow on 18 November was truly a historical one. Alexander Lukashenko, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Dmitry Medvedev reached an agreement to create a Eurasian Economic Union and signed a Declaration on Eurasian Economic Integration.

“The prospects of powerful and deep integration, which are opened today, are truly breathtaking,” remarked President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in his article “Destinies of our integration” in the Izvestia newspaper.

In the modern world integration is prompted by life, determined by the time and the economic reality. The troika integration was launched in January 2010. It was then that the Customs Union started operating. It was the first step and a very important one on the way towards more advanced integration – the Single Economic Space. The SES will begin operating on 1 January 2012. Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia will make the transition to a higher level of integration that envisages free movement of commodities, services, capital, and workforce. It will undoubtedly make the competitive ability of each country stronger in the international market of products and services. The creation of the Single Economic Space is not just another step, it is a new age of integration of the three countries. It is designed to lay down a solid foundation for the Eurasian Economic Union. The opening article “The Union That Will Benefit All” starts a new rubric “Integration”. The article covers the main waymarks and steps to be taken to create the new economic and political center of power in the Eurasian space.

As the integration space is created, the foundation for the successful operation of the economies will be laid down. Successful operation is impossible without further modernization and innovations. Belarus chose the strategy of innovation-driven development a long time ago. Stepping up innovation efforts, assimilation of new advanced technologies in the production sector are some of the main tasks of the Belarusian government’s economic policy. The Belarusian Innovation Week took place in Minsk in November. It gathered representatives of 15 countries. The Belarusian-Russian forum was a major event of the Week. Our special appendix “Union State: Integration Based on Innovations” tells the story of the uniting power of innovations.

An interview with Belarusian Architecture and Construction Minister Anatoly Nichkasov is dedicated to the important topic of import substitution. It highlights the results of the national program to start the manufacturing of import-substituting products for the civil engineering industry in 2009-2012 and outlines the draft new program for 2012-2015. Thanks to the import-substituting efforts in the civil engineering industry Belarus considerably reduced foreign exchange expenses, improved the status of the domestic construction materials industry, and started manufacturing products that can match the world’s best.

In the article “Unique Source of Important Information” Chairman of the National Statistics Committee of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Zinovsky speaks about new approaches to the 2009 census and processing its results.

In our magazine you will also find articles about investment cooperation, foreign economic relations, innovation projects and leading Belarusian enterprises.