This year’s annual summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) marked the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the group. The summit consisted of the heads of state or government of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan, although Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was unable to attend in person but via video. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his speech to the meeting that it aims “to deepen intra-EAEU cooperation in the most diverse spheres.” He also called the EAEU “an independent and self-sufficient center of an emerging multipolar world, [which] continues to develop dynamically.”
During their meeting, the leaders signed 17 documents. Key among these were “the formation of a common market of gas, oil and petroleum products and the functioning of a single service market,” as well as a single customs transit system. The single custom transit system will allow “seamless transportation by increasing the connectivity of territories and reducing business costs for cargo delivery,” according to the Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, reported TASS.
The EAEU also formally granted Iran “Observer Status in the Eurasian Economic Union.”
