MOSCOW, May 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in the plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday, the event will be dedicated to «Eurasian integration in the multipolar world,» the Kremlin press service said.
The Eurasian Economic Forum is timed to coincide with the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council with the participation of the heads of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and observer states. Putin will take part in it on May 25, where it is planned to consider the implementation of various projects, issues of the Union's international activities and the expansion of trade and economic ties. Putin will also have a number of separate meetings with the leaders of the EAEU member states and the states invited to the summit.
The EAEU includes Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia. In 2023, Russia will preside over the bodies of the Union. In an address to the heads of the EAEU member states in January, Putin said that «the Union has every opportunity to become one of the powerful, independent, self-sufficient poles of the emerging multipolar world» and be a center of attraction for all independent states seeking cooperation with EAEU.
Putin then also stressed that since its foundation in 2015, the EAEU has been developing steadily. The absolute volume of mutual trade of the Union member states over the past period increased by 60% and in 2021 reached a historical maximum of $73.1 billion, while the volume of foreign trade increased by 46% to $846.3 billion.
Large-scale dialogue with Indonesia
The purpose of the forum, as reported on the official website of the event, is to improve cooperative ties in the Eurasian space, discuss the most relevant and demanded business issues of the development of the EAEU and its interaction with key partners.
It is expected that for the first time a large-scale dialogue between representatives of the government and business of Indonesia and the EAEU will take place at the forum, Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Andrey Slepnev previously reported. In particular, the delegations will discuss the progress of negotiations on the establishment of a free trade area (FTA), which the EAEU and Indonesia launched on December 5.
Slepnev stressed that the FTA agreement is «a necessary but not sufficient condition» for the full development of mutual trade and business contacts. According to the interlocutor of the agency, the agreement «opens the door, but this open door still needs to be entered» — a full-fledged dialogue between entrepreneurs of both sides is required.
Formation of the Eurasian partnership
The Eurasian Economic Forum was established in 2019, when it was decided to transform the Eurasian Week, which had been held since 2016, into the EEF format. The forum was planned to be held annually, but in 2020 and 2021 the organization of the event had to be abandoned due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, the first EEF took place in May 2022 in Bishkek (the Kyrgyz Republic chaired the bodies of the Union). The theme of the 2022 forum was «Eurasian Economic Integration in the Era of Global Change. New Opportunities for Investment Activity».
Putin spoke at the first EEF via video link. Part of the President's speech was devoted to the formation of a large Eurasian partnership. According to the head of state, in the current conditions, when traditional trade and economic ties and logistics chains are being destroyed, the Russian initiative takes on a special meaning. In particular, the President of the Russian Federation proposed to develop institutions common to the continent at key points of growth, to actively develop cooperation between the EAEU and foreign partners, to inform them about the benefits and advantages of working with the Union, to support the freedom of business initiative, the creative activity of business and investors.
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