DUSHANBE, December 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — If Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan join the Customs Union that is created by Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, products of these countries will get access to Russia’s market and Russian capital will come to these countries, Alexander Rar, the director of the Russia-Eurasia Center at the German Council on Foreign Affairs (DGAP), said in an interview with news agency Trend News, Azerbaijan.
According to him, it is very important because both countries need foreign investments.
Two opposite process – reintegration and disintegration – have been going on within the post-Soviet area for already twenty years, Mr. Rar noted. There are countries that have no objection to form some economic unions because they are to profit from this. Among them are Russia and Kazakhstan. In the meantime, some others try to run away from the past, to forget that had tied them before and want to be integrated into economic and political structures outside the Post-Soviet area.
Mr. Rar considers that that are only two states in Central Asia that come out against any kind of integration – Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
Turkmen authorities have already begun understanding that they need integration and they will try to get access to the West, China, Iran and they will definitely continue integration with Russia, the German expert noted. However, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are still at another stage of comprehension of integration than Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that have always sought integration within the CIS area and have never come out against the integration processes.
The German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) has helped shape the foreign policy debate in Germany since 1955. The mission of the DGAP, as an independent and nonprofit institution, is to improve the understanding of international relations and to scientifically explore the pertinent current issues of foreign policy. Furthermore, the DGAP regularly hosts German and international experts and decision-makers in the fields of politics, economics, science and the media, in order to discuss foreign policy essentials and current events. The DGAP is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, private corporations, foundations and others, as well as through the financial support of its more than 2,000 members.
In the meantime, Professor Hojimahmad Umarov, who is Tajik expert on economic issues, considers that today, Tajikistan will not gain anything by joining any customs union. “At present, so-called border taxes and duties account for more than 46 percent of the national budget receipts and if Tajikistan joins the future Customs Union Tajikistan, volumes of these taxes and duties may significantly decrease,” he said.
