Tajik officials and local experts have evaluated the possible pros and cons of Tajikistan’s admission to the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) for many years.
Pros:
– Entry into a common market of the EAEU member nations as a full member, removal of customs barriers;
– The possibility of unimpeded export of manpower to the EAEU member nations;
– Access to stable and cheap oil product deliveries, first of all from the Russian Federation;
– The possibility of getting investments for modernization of the economy and creation of high-tech manufacturing facilities both for internal market and for exports to partner countries;
– Realization of hydropower potential and the possibility of regularly supplying electricity to the EAEU member nations;
– Improvement of tourism potentials;
– Membership in the EAEU can protect Tajikistan against external threats.
Cons:
– The possibility of weakening of economic and even political sovereignty;
– Decrease in import of goods from China under the simplified scheme of payment of import customs duties;
– Loss of tax revenues as a result of bringing the country’s tax legislation into compliance with the EAEU requirements;
– Decrease in customs revenues;
– Incomplete delimitation and demarcation of Tajikistan’s common border with Kyrgyzstan, which is member of the EAEU;
– Decrease in the number of cars delivered to the country from Europe and Japan;
– Delivery of cheap industrial and agricultural goods that can affect domestic producers.
The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an economic union of states located primarily in northern Eurasia. A treaty aiming for the establishment of the EAEU 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.
