If Kyrgyzstan hadn’t joined the Eurasian Economic Union, the GDP growth of the country by the end of 2016 would have hardly amounted to more than 0.1%, Vice Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Oleg Pankratov said.
According to him, integration blocks will play the main role on the world stage in the near future. At the same time, the role of WTO will reduce. And countries outside of any integration association will play a role of outsiders.
“Kyrgyzstan is a small economy that doesn’t have access to large reserves of hydrocarbons. Therefore, we can’t exist separately. Other alternatives of integration organizations other than the EEU are difficult for Kyrgyzstan’s accession,” Vice Prime Minister said.
“When we joined the EEU, the choice was like this: either we enter and participate in global processes, or go on our own way of development, competing not just with individual countries, but with the economic giants”, Oleg Pankratov said.
According to officials, the Eurasian integration issue is highly politicized. It was one of the government’s mistakes. The population had the opinion that the EEU was a panacea for everything and the solution to all problems.
“People had high expectations. But the main task of the government is to keep those market outlets and niche, which the country occupied before the establishment of the EEU. After all, since the union started working, there was a threat that Kyrgyzstan would lose markets not only because of the barriers, but also because of introduction of technical regulations,” Oleg Pankratov concluded. (24.kg/Business World Magazine)