Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan sign common economic space deal

The presidents of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement on the formation of a common economic space. The purpose of the agreement is "to create conditions for the stable and effective development of the economies of the sides and to raise living standards."
The preamble of the agreement stresses that the signatories "recognize the right of the sides to decide on their involvement in the process of forming the space depending on their countries' readiness for further integration processes." Article 1 of the agreement contains the definition of the space as "an economic space in which economic regulation mechanisms based on common principles function to guarantee the free flow of commodities, services, capital and the work force."

Parties to the agreement pledge "to pursue a common foreign trade policy coordinated to the degree necessary to guarantee equal competition and maintain macroeconomic stability”. The same applies to tax, monetary and currency policies.
The agreement declares as the first stage of forming the common economic zone "the formation of a free trade zone without exemption or restrictions that implies the non-application of antidumping, compensation or special protective measures in mutual trade on the basis of a common policy of tariff and non-tariff regulation, common rules of competition, the application of subsidies and other forms of government support."

Article 4 of the agreement specifies the principles of coordinating the formation processes. Agencies of the common economic space will be set up "combining inter-state elements and the principle of the transfer of part of the powers of the sides to a single regulating body with a gradually increasing role."
A council of heads of state is to oversee the formation and operation of the space. "Votes will be distributed between council members according to the one-country-one-vote principle" and decisions will be made by consensus.

The sides are expected to set up a single regulating authority to which they will delegate part of their powers on the basis of international agreements, and its decisions will be mandatory for all sides.
The regulating authority will decide on all matters through balanced voting and the number of votes will depend on a country's economic potential. The space is expected to emerge "stage-by-stage with the possibility of integration at different levels and paces."
"Integration at different paces means that every member-country will decide independently about the direction of integration or integration project it will join and its scale."

At the same time none of the sides "can prevent others from advancing to a higher degree of integration at a faster pace." The space will be open to other countries that share its objectives and principles on conditions coordinated with the parties to the agreement. The concept of the development of the space supplements the agreement.
Sources in the Russian delegation told that the four countries are continuing work on the third document of the new organization, described as the complex of basic measures. The sources said that the sides have reserved their individual opinions on certain fundamental aspects of the document and the Ukrainian delegation continues to insist on dropping several crucial provisions from it or putting them off to a later stage.