Aliaksandr Lukashenka said that order must be restored within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). He made the remarks at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. According to him, the global situation is developing along a conflict-driven path, forcing member states to devote considerable attention to balancing external factors.
“But regardless of how the external environment develops, we must under no circumstances slow down our efforts to achieve the goals set out in the treaty establishing our union. We must not forget about putting our own house in order,” he said.
Lukashenka noted that numerous measures had been implemented under the strategic integration agenda, international agreements had been signed and hundreds of regulatory acts adopted.
“But let us be honest: key issues such as regulation of the common financial market, trade barriers, electronic digital signatures and others have been postponed. We talk about artificial intelligence, yet practical issues such as digital signatures have been put off. I am not criticising anyone. I am persistently urging that, since we agreed 12 years ago to pursue deep economic integration, we should implement all the union’s goals and objectives on time and in full,” he said.
According to Lukashenka, the most important thing is to achieve concrete results. At the same time, he suggested that Russia would have to make concessions.
“We need to ensure that not only we, but also the journalists covering our meetings and discussions, and our peoples, feel that we truly have a union and that there are concrete results in all areas. We fully understand that the leading country in our union, Russia, will have to take very serious steps and perhaps make certain concessions. First and foremost, our commission and the union’s apparatus must seriously consider how to increase both the intensity and effectiveness of our work so that these are not merely meetings and discussions followed by no practical action, but rather produce results. There must be effectiveness,” he added.
Lukashenka also addressed the topic of artificial intelligence, which was the main focus of the Eurasian Economic Forum held the previous day.
“We support the idea of developing artificial intelligence, including through joint efforts. But this must be done consciously, with a clear understanding of what we are doing, rather than chasing a trend and placing excessive hopes in it. At the same time, we must not allow new technological solutions, which tend to fall within national competencies but directly affect the functioning of the EAEU internal market, to undermine our treaty obligations. You know, someone may invent something, call it artificial intelligence and use it in a way that harms the existing order in trade and other areas. Take, for example, the digitalisation of public procurement systems, which is intended to speed up procedures and avoid creating digital barriers for participants from other member states. Let us instead make common use of national practices, as the President of Kazakhstan has just suggested, rather than turning them into protectionist tools,” he said.
He also called for a more responsible approach to free trade negotiations with third countries and urged faster progress in talks with India.
“In the near future, we must take a decisive step towards implementing the key ideas we have outlined within the Eurasian Economic Union. If we fail to do so—and we must act quickly now because the times demand it, we must accelerate. If we do not do it quickly, the attractiveness of our union will move towards zero.
And if anyone is observing the work of our union and later decides to join it, they will quickly become disappointed in its effectiveness. Trust my experience: we must make our union effective. To do that, we need once again to analyse our work and abandon what is preventing us from moving forward.
We must clearly understand whose interests need to be set aside. Everyone will have to make concessions, some to a greater extent than others. Our priority must be the effectiveness of the Eurasian Economic Union, so that countries joining the bloc, and those considering membership, clearly understand the benefits it offers. Current members should not be left with the impression that they would be better off elsewhere.
There is still much for us to do in this regard. If we fail, we will become what Mayakovsky called people endlessly sitting in meetings, engaged in nothing more than empty talk,” he concluded.