Kyrgyzstan’s clothing, show and other imports from China have considerably exceeded the country’s requirements in those goods, according to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
EEC analysts say poor customs administration along the Kyrgyz-Chinese border has seriously affected the other member nations of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Increase in Kyrgyzstan’s imports from China and decrease in Kyrgyzstan’s imports from the EEU member nations have reportedly been observed since 2014.
Thus, Kyrgyzstan’s imports from Kazakhstan have fallen at least twice as much and Kyrgyzstan’s imports from the Russian Federation have fallen 25 percent.
Kyrgyz customs service reportedly tries not to give real data on imports from China. Thus, Kyrgyzstan’s customs service noted that Kyrgyzstan’s imports from China in 2015 amounted to 1 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, China says that its exports into Kyrgyzstan in 2015 amounted to 4 billion U.S. dollars.
Experts attribute cross-flow of imports to the fact that customs clearance of Chinese goods along the Kyrgyz border is much cheaper than in other countries bordering China.
Thus, the customs clearance of women’s boots in Kazakhstan is expensive more than ten times as much compared to Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, after crossing Kyrgyzstan’s border, Chinese goods can be smuggled into any other member nation of the Eurasian Economic Union.
As a result of this grey scheme, a total volume of customs duty and VAT (value added tax) losses of the EEU member nations over the past three years has reportedly amounted to nearly 2.689 billion U.S. dollars: Kazakhstan has received 212.1 million U.S. dollars 331 less; Russia – 2.5327 billion U.S. dollars; and Belarus – 123.8 million U.S. dollars.
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) is the executive body of the Eurasian Economic Union responsible for implementing decisions, upholding the EEU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the Eurasian Economic Union. The main task of the Eurasian Economic Commission is to ensure the functioning and development of the EEU, and to prepare proposals for its further integration.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) is an economic union of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The Treaty aiming for the establishment of the EEU was signed on May 29, 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on January 1, 2015. Treaties aiming for Armenia's and Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union were signed on October 9 and December 23 2014, respectively. Armenia's accession treaty came into force on January 2, 2015. Kyrgyzstan's accession treaty came into effect on August 6, 2015.
The Eurasian Economic Union has an integrated single market of 183 million people and a gross domestic product of over 4 trillion U.S. dollars. The EEU introduces the free movement of goods, capital, services and people and provides for common policies in macroeconomic sphere, transport, industry and agriculture, energy, foreign trade and investment, customs, technical regulation, competition and antitrust regulation.
