Tajikistan considering membership in EEU
"Countries certainly should join together, but they need to do this bearing in mind their own interests. It is wrong to join unions blindly, without much thought. Tajikistan and Belarus are members of certain economic and political blocs," the diplomat pointed out. Among such unions, Kozidavlat Koimdodov mentioned the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The diplomat said that all matters related to the EEU and the possible membership of Tajikistan in this union are being studied and analyzed. "We need to identify and consider all the pros and cons of our possible accession. Our leader, Emomali Rahmon, stressed the need to study the economic basis and rules of the Eurasian Economic Union with a view to ‘possible future accession to this new integration association'. Meanwhile, I would like to emphasize that the EEU member states are our major trading partners," Kozidavlat Koimdodov said.
"History shows that to join such unions, a country needs to have a well-developed economy or a safety cushion for the transition period. If today we lift all the customs duties that make a certain contribution to the budget, then where from will we get this money tomorrow? All the countries that showed interest in joining the union in question had such a safety cushion," Kozidavlat Koimdodov said.
He believes that time is needed to decide on this complex issue. "For instance, the negotiations on our accession to the WTO lasted for eleven years, from 2001," the diplomat emphasized.
He pointed out that specialists should think how to harmonize tariffs. Groups of experts are working on this. However, we should take into account the factor of the global crisis and various sanctions, Kozidavlat Koimdodov added, Kazinform has learnt from BelTA.