OREANDA-NEWS. December 12, 2011. IBC with the support of the OSCE Center in Bishkek held open meeting titled “WTO and Customs Union: Compatibility and Prospects”. The event was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation Valentin Vlasov, Counsellor of Embassy of the Republic of Belarus Victor Zdanchuk, MPs Omurbek Abdrakhmanov, Ravshan Djeenbekov, Raikan Tologonov, Kanybek Imanaliyev, representatives from the Government, Presidential Office, international organizations, business community and civil society. Participants discussed the prospects for the development of entrepreneurship after Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the Customs Union, reported the press-centre of IBC.
 
Rimma Kiseleva, Head of the Foreign Trade and WTO Division of the Ministry of Economic Regulation, presented advantages and risks of Kyrgyzstan’s membership in the Customs Union and possible ways for mitigating negative consequences. Formation of the customs union and common economic space was the goal of the creation of EurAsEC in October 2000. The EurAsEC currently unites Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In this context, accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Customs Union can be considered as Kyrgyzstan’s obligation within the framework of EurAsEC, independent expert Nuritdin Zhamankulov said.
 
Kyrgyzstan will have to change its WTO obligations to join the Customs Union. However, Kyrgyzstan should notify the WTO of its intention to accede the CU only after Russia’s accession to the WTO and establishment of the CU initial external tariffs, he added. To increase each tariff rate for CU, Kyrgyzstan is supposed to negotiate with the concerned WTO members and provide adequate compensation. Compensation can be made in the form of reckoning the concessions made by CU members in favor of Kyrgyzstan. However, such reckoning requires the determination of initial common customs tariff of the Customs Union within the framework of WTO. Clear determination of tariffs, on the basis of which increase or decrease of tariff rates and, accordingly, concession for Kyrgyzstan will be calculated, will become possible when CU members join the WTO.
 
President of the Kyrgyz Association of Markets, Trade Enterprises and Services Sergei Ponomarev noted the timeliness and importance of the Program for the Development of Dordoi and Kara Suu Markets and   suggested adding representatives of various sectoral business associations to the Working Group, which is studying the possibility of Kyrgyzstan’s accession to the Customs Union. Participants came to a conclusion that it was necessary to undertake urgent measures to reorient Kyrgyz economy.