DUSHANBE, February 19, 2010, Asia-Plus — To enter a Single Economic Space (SES) Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan ought to improve their legal foundations in order to meet requirements of this organization, Suhrob Sharipov, director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, said.
According to him, countries creating the SES, including Russia, want “the creation of the SES to be implemented on the basis of objective processes.” “Economic indices of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan should be the main criteria for joining the SES,” noted the Tajik think tank head, “Tajikistan does not meet these criteria yet.”
He added that joining the SES had both advantages and disadvantages. “Entry to the single economic space presupposes unification of economic policies, tax and customs laws as well creation of favorable conditions for investments that is profitable for Tajikistan,” said Sharipov. “When our country is ready for joining the SES it will be profitable for Tajikistan.”
As it had been reported earlier, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev stated on February 12 that Russia is not going to artificially draw Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into the Single Economic Space (SES). “We have made all decisions on the SES and will fulfill them in the given period. However, it does not mean that we are going to artificially draw Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into the SES,” Medvedev said following the session on energy problems in Omsk. According to Interfax, he noted that these countries are not ready for that yet. Besides, Russia has matters to discuss with some of these countries, Medvedev added. “They are our partners but it does not mean that we must give them unfounded preferences. Yes, the SES is Belarus and Kazakhstan. As for other countries, please let me decide and I will decide subject to behavior of leaders of these countries,” Medvedev stressed.
We will recall that the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan agreed to create the SES by January 1, 2012. Russian President Medvedev, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a package of deals on November 27, 2009 in Minsk to create a customs union with common tariffs, paving the way for a single economic space.
