On May 14, 2024, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the European Studies Institute (ESI) at MGIMO University held a conference themed “One Decade Since Signing the EAEU Treaty: Preliminary Results of Creating Common Markets and Paths to Deeper Integration.” The conference was timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, which took place on May 29, 2014, and is part of a series of RIAC-hosted events to explore integration processes in the EAEU.
RIAC Director General Ivan Timofeev and ESI MGIMO Director Tamara Shashikhina delivered welcome remarks to the conference participants. Alexander Starkov, Head of the Eurasian Economic Integration Division at the First Department of CIS countries of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Yerlan Shamishev, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Russia, also spoke at the opening of the event.
On May 14, 2024, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the European Studies Institute (ESI) at MGIMO University held a conference themed “One Decade Since Signing the EAEU Treaty: Preliminary Results of Creating Common Markets and Paths to Deeper Integration.” The conference was timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, which took place on May 29, 2014, and is part of a series of RIAC-hosted events to explore integration processes in the EAEU.
RIAC Director General Ivan Timofeev and ESI MGIMO Director Tamara Shashikhina delivered welcome remarks to the conference participants. Alexander Starkov, Head of the Eurasian Economic Integration Division at the First Department of CIS countries of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Yerlan Shamishev, Minister Counsellor of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Russia, also spoke at the opening of the event.
The conference was split into three sessions. The participants raised a wide range of matters related to current achievements of Eurasian economic integration and challenges facing the EAEU amid global turbulence, discussed opportunities and formats for cooperation between the union and third countries, the specifics of building a single EAEU market and promising areas of development for the integration association, as laid down in the “United Eurasian Path” declaration.
The first session, “Preliminary Results of EAEU Treaty Implementation. Framework for Union’s Adaptation to New Modalities,” was dedicated to the 10 years’ experience of building an integration union, ways it can be adapted to a changed international and political environment and achievements on this path. The speakers included Elena Danilova, Deputy Director of the Integration Development Department at the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC); Alexander Ageev, Professor at the Department of Comparative Politics of MGIMO University and Member of RAS Scientific Council on Complex Issues of Eurasian Economic Integration, Modernization and Sustainable Development; Bolat Nurgaliyev, Chairman of the Board of the Foreign Policy Research Institute under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Anna Tsibulina, Associate Professor at the Department of Integration Studies, MGIMO University.
In the second session, “Development of EAEU Internal Market and Foreign Economic Cooperation. Scaling Up Successes,” the participants focused on internal economic aspects of deepening and complementing common markets. Reports on these issues were presented by Dmitry Ezhov, Head of the EEC Integration Development Department's International Cooperation Section; Anton Naku, Associate Professor at the Department of Integration and Human Rights Law, MGIMO University; and Anna Pak, Associate Professor at the Department of International Law, Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University.
The speakers in the third session “Deepening Multilateral Cooperation in Areas With Integration Potential” addressed possible avenues for the EAEU’s future development. The participants shared their views on the necessary steps to boost integration processes and included Igor Makarov, Head of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs and of the Laboratory for Economics of Climate Change, HSE University; Natalia Yurova, Head of the Department of International Economic Relations at Belarusian State University; Oleg Barabanov, Deputy Director of the ESI at MGIMO University and Program Director of the Valdai International Discussion Club; and Bolot Dyushaliev, Executive Director of the Kyrgyz-Russian Business Council.
The
sessions were moderated by Nikita Pyzhikov, Head of the Centre for Economic
Integration at the Institute for the Development of Integration Processes of
the Russian Foreign Trade Academy; Alexander Korolev, Deputy Director of the
Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies at HSE University; and
Yulia Melnikova, RIAC Program Manager, respectively.
