What do Kazakhstanis know about EAEU?
Economic development and expansion of the markets of the member states caused the creation of the Customs Union (according to the new version EAEU – Eurasian Economic Union) in 1995. The EAEU Treaty was signed on May 29, 2014 in Astana by the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and entered into force on January 1, 2015. The Union has 5 member states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia, which have adopted common rules for the import and export of products across their borders and comply with a set of conditions of signed international agreements. The area of the EAEU countries is more than 20 million square kilometers (14% of the world land), the population of the EAEU countries, as of early 2020, amounted to 184.26 million people.
According to the results of a sociological survey, more than half of all Kazakhstani respondents (62.9%) have a positive attitude towards Kazakhstan's participation in the EAEU. 7.1% of respondents were strongly against such participation, and another 4.9% chose «rather negative».
The vast majority of respondents (84.6%) named various positive aspects of the EAEU for its member states. First and foremost, it is the preservation and expansion of economic, cultural and humanitarian ties between the participating countries, as well as the improvement of the quality and range of goods in the Kazakhstani market. A positive thing for Kazakhstanis is the opportunity for individuals to work outside of Kazakhstan, as well as expanding opportunities for Kazakhstani businesses. Kazakhstanis also see the EAEU as a guarantee of sovereignty and security for our country.
Kazakhstan took over the presidency of the EAEU from 2021,and in this regard, in December 2020, at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev outlined the priorities of our country's presidency in the EAEU, one of them being the industrial cooperation, including the development of cooperation in high-tech industries: space, biotechnology, nanoindustry, photonics, modern component base, information and communication technology, new technology for mining and processing of natural resources, and ecology.
We wish the SEEC meeting to have a successful work in our capital! Hopefully, the systematic work undertaken by the participating countries to accumulate the best national and global achievements of scientific and technological progress and the mobilization of scientific potential will be the key to success for the innovative development of the Eurasian Economic Union. Moreover, we hope that this will allow every resident of Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan to fully experience the positive impact of the EAEU activities!