Friday June 19, 06:39 PM
Kazakh president praises new Russian bloc
ALMATY (AFP) - A new regional bloc grouping Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan that could apply jointly for WTO membership will open up massive business opportunities, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Friday.
The creation of a new customs union comprising the three ex-Soviet states was declared in a surprise announcement last week by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who said the countries would unify their bids to join the World Trade Organisation.
"The customs union with Russia and Belarus opens new possibilities for our businesses," Nazarbayev said in a statement posted on the website of the presidential administration.
"It is an enormous market with a population of more than 170 million and a total GDP of nearly two trillion dollars (1.4 trillion euros). Kazakh businesses must develop these markets and we are creating the necessary conditions for that."
Energy-rich Kazakhstan -- Central Asia's largest economy -- has been severely hampered by plummeting commodity prices resulting from the global financial crisis.
The customs union will open new markets and allow private business to become the "locomotive for the development of the country," Nazarbayev said.
Belarus and neighbouring Russia already have a formal customs union, which Kazakhstan is set to join.
The decision brings the curtain down on a tortuous 15-year process for Moscow to join the World Trade Organization on its own, which has recently been marked by growing expressions of Russian impatience.
Russia is the largest world economy still outside the WTO. Initial talks on its accession began in 1993 but were delayed by disputes over a variety of issues and were set back again by Russia's war with Georgia last year.
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