Economic Relations between Kazakhstan and Russia

— The Council for Education, Culture, and Science. The formation of

coordinated policy on education, promotion of cultural and scientific

cooperation and exchange, and joint activity on compiling textbooks and

manuals.

— To achieve a deeper coordination and effectiveness of the activities of

the EAU countries, it is deemed advisable to set up in each of them a State

Committee (or Ministry) for EAU Affairs.

— Regular meetings and consultations on health services, education, labor,

employment, culture, combating crime, and so on, by ministers of EAU

countries.

. Encouraging the activities of non-governmental organizations in

various areas of cooperation in accordance with EAU member

countries' national legislation.

— The Russian language is the official EAU language, functioning side

by side with the languages of legislation in the member nations.

— Citizenship. Free movement of citizens within EAU borders requires

coordination of external visa policy with regard to third nations. On

changing the country of residence within the EAU, an individual

automatically receives the other country's membership.

— One of the cities at the juncture of Europe and Asia, such as Kazan or

Samara, might be proposed as the capital of the EAU.

In order to create a unified economic space within the EAU framework, it is

proposed to establish a number of supranational coordinating structures:

— A commission on the economy under the Council of EAU Heads of State

to work out the main directions of economic reform within the EAU

framework; the commission takes into consideration the interests of the

national states and offers its proposals for endorsement by the Council of

the EAU Heads of State;

— A commission on the raw materials of the EAU exporter countries to

coordinate and endorse the prices and quotas for exported raw materials and

fuel and energy resources, an appropriate inter-state agreement to be

signed by the member countries; coordination of policy in the mining and

sale of gold and other precious metals is to be envisaged;

— A fund for economic and technological cooperation formed with EAU

members' contributions. The fund will finance promising science-intensive

economic, scientific, and technological programs and render assistance in

the solution of a wide range of problems, including legal, tax, financial,

and ecological issues;

— A commission on inter-state financial-industrial groups and joint

ventures; — an EAU international investment bank;

— An inter-state EAU court of arbitration on economic problems, to resolve

conflicts on a legal basis and to impose sanctions;

— A commission on the introduction of a clearance monetary unit (transfer

ruble).

It is proposed to implement a number of measures to preserve the potential

achieved in the previous decades and to enhance integration in the field of

science, culture, and education:

— The setting up of common EAU research centers to carry out fundamental

research in contemporary knowledge;

— The setting up of an EAU fund for the development of scientific research

to unite the scientific collectives from various countries;

— The setting up of a committee on links in the field of culture, science,

and education under the Council of the Heads of EAU Governments;

— Encouragement of the formation of non-governmental associations in the

sphere of culture, education, and science;

— The setting up of a grants fund under the EAU Executive Committee.

It is proposed to conclude the following accords on defense within the EAU

framework:

— A treaty on joint actions to strengthen the national Armed Forces of the

EAU member countries and to protect EAU external borders.

The EAU will establish a unified defense space to coordinate defense

activities:

. The formation of joint peace-making EAU forces to maintain

stability and eliminate conflicts within the member countries

and between them. The sending of peace-making forces to conflict

areas on EAU territory - with the agreement of EAU member states

and in accordance with international legal norms;

. The tabling of joint proposals by EAU member countries at

international organizations, including the United Nations

Security Council, on lending EAU joint contingents the status of

a peace-making force;

— The setting up of an inter-state center on problems of nuclear

disarmament attended by representatives of international organizations.

— All EAU states except Russia maintain their nuclear-free status.

In the area of ecology, the following mechanisms must be formed in the

nearest future, according to the EAU project:

— An ecological fund under the EAU Council of Heads of State, to realize

ecological programs within the EAU framework, to be financed by all member

states;

— Coordination of actions with international organizations to reduce the

extent of environmental pollution;

— Endorsement of short- and long-term programs for major problems of

restoration of the environment and liquidation of the consequences of

ecological disasters (the Aral Sea, Chernobyl, the Semipalatinsk nuclear

testing ground);

— The endorsement of an inter-state EAU agreement on storing nuclear waste.

The Eurasian Union of States is thus based on three principal provisions:

— Joint supranational coordinating organs for the management of the

economy, defense, and foreign policy;

— A unified economic space;

— A common defense complex.

The supranational institutions include the highest organ of political

leadership of the Union - the council of heads of state and heads of

government; the highest consultative organ, the parliament; the councils of

foreign and defense ministers;

And the interstate executive committee - a permanently functioning

executive and controlling body whose head is appointed by the heads of

government for a term which they themselves define.

As for the unified economic space, it may be built, e.g., on such a basis

as coordinating economic policies and mandatory programs; a common

legislative basis regulating relations between economic agents; a

supranational currency on the European ECU model; coordination of direct

links between enterprises; the setting up of joint and mixed industrial-

financial groups, transport firms, trade houses, and exchanges. The defense

and foreign trade complexes may be just as effective. The EAU as

represented by its executive committee must receive the status of an

authorized representative in all the leading interstate organizations of

the world.

The practical realization of the provisions of the EAU project in the

bilateral Kazakhstan!-Russian relations is excellent proof of the viability

of this program.

On January 20, 1995, a package of extremely important integration

documents was signed during the working meeting between presidents

Nazarbayev and Yeltsin. This package included a declaration on expanding

and deepening Kazakh-stani-Russian cooperation and an agreement on the

Customs Union, which was also signed by Belorussia. Both of these were

discussed in detail before. This last agreement opens the way to the

establishment of a unified customs space to be followed by a unified

economic space, as envisioned in the EAU project.

With the setting up of the Customs Union, the economic cooperation of

the three countries is built on the principles of free, non-discriminatory

trade; a common market of commodities, services, capital, and labor; and

close interaction in the production, investment, and financial spheres.

At present, the first stage in the formation of the Customs Union is

largely completed. The work done by the three sides is generally recognized

to be an important element of the realization of the foundations of the

Economic Union and the formation of the common market of CIS countries.

The legal acts on tariff and non-tariff regulation of foreign trade have

been unified. Kazakhstan and Russia have signed an agreement on unified

control of customs services. An agreement has also been reached on the

identity of trade procedures in both countries in relation to third

nations, and unified procedures have been introduced on the customs

statistics on foreign trade and customs registration of commodities subject

to excise. Customs controls on railroads and passenger air traffic between

the two countries are lifted step by step.

A treaty has been signed between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the

Russian Federation on joint efforts on the protection of outer borders, the

term “outer borders” taken to mean the sectors of the border between our

countries and the states that are not part of the CIS. The edict of the

president of Kazakhstan dated September 19, 1995 On the Lifting of Customs

Control on the Border between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian

Federation concludes the first stage in the formation of the Customs Union

and orders the implementation of joint customs controls on the Kazakhstan

and Russian sectors of the outer borders of the Customs Union.

At the second stage of the formation of Kazakhstani-Russian-

Belorussian economic efforts to form a customs union, the most important

areas of cooperation are a closer coordination of economic reforms;

harmonization of civil and economic legislation; unification of currency,

tax, and price regulation by the state with the aim of leveling out the

economic and legal conditions for the activities of commodity producers

within a unified customs space; working out coordinated positions of the

members of the Customs Union in relations with third countries and

international organizations. At the meeting of heads of CIS countries in

November 1995, three more countries stated their desire to join the Customs

Union: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Later, only Kyrgyzstan went

through with the necessary procedures and entered the Customs Union.

Another example of collaboration in the field of integration is the

agreement on the Baikonur space vehicle-launching site, which makes it

possible to use this great scientific and technological facility in the

interests of Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as documents on the issues of

citizenship signed by the presidents of Kazakhstan and Russian.

Let us consider in somewhat greater detail the problems of

citizenship, of which the solution on a bilateral basis was also outlined

in the draft project of the EAU.

Issues of citizenship became particularly prominent at the time of the

emergence and building of sovereign independent states after the

disintegration of the USSR, when tens of millions of former Soviet citizens

overnight ended up outside their "historical homelands." This problem is as

topical for Kazakhstan and Russia as for other CIS countries. More than

that, it often figures as one of the most important issues of bilateral

relations with Russia.

The more acute aspects of this problem were lifted as a result of the

signing in January 1995 by the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan of a

treaty on the legal status of citizens of both countries living on the

territory of the other state and of an agreement on simplified procedures

for acquiring citizenship in moving from one country to another. Well-known

specialists from the two countries worked fruitfully on these documents.

Authoritative Kazakhstan! and Russian politicians and jurists believe that

these are innovative agreements without parallel in the world, and they are

a fairly rare example of regulating bilateral issues on a civilized basis.

The importance of these agreements both for progressive development of our

countries and for normal life of the citizens of Kazakhstan and Russia

cannot be exaggerated.

These documents envisage the introduction of maximally simplified

procedures for acquiring citizenship and for movement without visas; they

also offer possibilities for contract work and military service; assert the

rights of possession, use, and disposal of property; create conditions for

exchange of currency and transfer of sums of money by individuals and

corporate entities of Kazakhstan and Russia; and many other provisions

which reliably protect the rights and interests of the citizens of the two

countries.

Yet another sphere in which combining the efforts of all the

interested parties is needed is the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

The position of the Republic of Kazakhstan on this issue is based on

the need for an early drafting and signing of a convention on the legal

status of the Caspian Sea, of which a draft was worked out by the

Kazakhstan foreign ministry and sent out to all the interested states as

early as March 1994. Unfortunately, there has been no response to this

initiative for quite a long time now, and the agreement on regional

cooperation on the Caspian Sea issue is still at a standstill.

At the same time preserving this unique object of nature is a task that the

present generation must be worthy of.

The events of the recent years thus prove conclusively the need to

proceed to a new level of integration, which will fully conform to the

vital needs of the peoples. International experience shows that any

interstate association goes through various states in its development,

becoming enriched in the process with new forms of cooperation. The

Eurasian Union should be seen as just one of such transitional forms

capable of optimizing the solution of the problems facing the Commonwealth.

From the time of the publication of the draft EAU project, politicians

and scholars have been paying close attention to it. Four major scientific

and practical conferences were devoted to this subject, as were hundreds of

publications in Kazakhstan, Russia, and other states. Politicians,

scholars, and diplomats continue to study the EAU project with great

attention.

The current period in history is characterized by a radical breakdown of

the old way of life. Society now faces difficult issues, and each person is

subject to serious trials It is quite natural under these conditions that

the peoples of Kazakhstan, Russia, and other countries with an interest in

the unification of the Commonwealth will find it easier to overcome these

difficulties together. A balanced attitude toward the past, a persistent

realization of the present potential, and confidence in a more certain

future - only these things will be able to give the peoples of our

countries a natural feeling of spiritual harmony and a sense of full-

blooded life.

History is offering us a chance to enter the 21st century in a

civilized manner. One of the ways to achieve that, in my view, is the

realization of the integration potential for the establishment of the

Eurasian Union, which will reflect the objective logic of the development

of the post-Soviet space and the will of the peoples of the former Soviet

Union to achieve integration.

This is how President Nazarbayev, the author of the Eurasian project,

characterized the development of this idea and his current vision of its

future: "I still remain an adherent of integration of post-Soviet space. As

I formulated my vision of integration I laid no claims to total realization

of all the provisions of the project, being fully aware of all the

political connotations of that period. Two considerations were my primary

motivation. First, I wanted to generalize within a single whole the most

realistic proposals for further integration, which simultaneously appeared

in the countries of the post-Soviet space. Second, I wished to interrupt

the indecently drawn-out pause in the activities of the CIS institutions.

In the last two years there was movement in the CIS countries on some

issues that had been at a standstill, including

4. VITAL PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT-DAY STATE OF KAZAKHSTANI-RUSSIAN RELATIONS

The Present State and Prospects for Economic Cooperation between

Kazakhstan and Russia.

The top priority area of Kazakhstan’s policy in foreign trade is the

strengthening of economic cooperation with Russia and consistent

integration of the economies of the CIS countries. This is determined by

the traditionally strong economic links, a high level of mutual

complementarily and interdependence of two economies of a once unified

state, the size of the commodity market and identify of economic problems

awaiting solution. “Analysis of the results of development of the economy

of the former USSR and of experiences of economically advanced nations,”

President Nazarbayev stressed, “shows that the transition to the market is

objectively necessary and historically inevitable.”

The main feature of the present-day situation in Kazakhstan is the

increasing impact of the mechanisms that have evolved in the years of

reform and a weakening of the effect of non-market factors. In the initial

stages, the underdeveloped state of such important instruments of the

formation of the market as privatization, de-monopolization, absence of a

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