EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Tajik Leader Backs Kazakh Idea Of Central Asian Economic Union

EURASIA INSIGHT

TAJIK LEADER BACKS KAZAKH IDEA OF CENTRAL ASIAN ECONOMIC UNION
9/14/07
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from BBC Monitoring

Text of report by Tajik news agency Asia-Plus website

Dushanbe, 13 September: Our region’s population is about 55 million, and common history and culture unite all of us.

We should think about cooperation that will not hinder our historical relations, but facilitate our trade and economic relations, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev believes.

He expressed this opinion to journalists at a joint news conference following a meeting with the Tajik president, recalling that Kazakhstan was the initiator of setting up a Central Asian economic union.

For his part, answering a question from journalists regarding his attitude to setting up a Central Asian economic union, President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan noted: "We are in favour of integration. According to conclusions of the World Bank, only the removal of artificial barriers will make it possible to double GDP."

However, in the Tajik president’s opinion, it is necessary to observe several conditions in order to set up this union.

"First, the countries in the region should become members of this union on an absolutely equal basis. Second, there should be a single legal framework. Third, the free movement of goods should be ensured. And lastly, members of the union should pursue the main goal, that is to rationally use water and energy and mineral resources," Emomali Rahmon believes.

Editor�s Note: Source: Asia-Plus news agency website, Dushanbe, in Russian 13 Sep 07

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