EAEU must at least double its share in global GDP in next decade - Lukashenko
MINSK. June 26 (Interfax) - The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has achieved a success in the main performance indicators but fallen short of about 20 crucial targets in its 2025 development strategy; over the next decade, the union should, at a minimum, double its share in the global GDP, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"The EAEU has already stepped over the ten-year line since its creation. Our bloc defied its skeptics by proving capable of finding mutually acceptable decisions and work compromises. The EAEU is not just functioning, it has also been successful in the main parameters. Over the ten years, trade between its member states has more than doubled and external trade [increased] by 37%. The union's combined GDP rose by nearly 18%; industrial production, by 30%; agricultural output, 25%; cargo traffic, by 10%; [and] investments, by more than 40%. The level of unemployment is down almost to a half, at 2.8%," Lukashenko said in his speech at the fourth Eurasian economic forum in Minsk on Thursday, which was broadcast live by Belarus' Pervy Informatsionny television channel.
Along with its partner states, the EAEU accounts for one-fifth of the world's population and is the largest bloc by area, containing a quarter of all proven types of fossil fuels, he said. The union is the world's number one for oil production, and ranks second for gas and minerals production, third for wheat, potato and agricultural production and for the length of railroads, Lukashenko said.
"But on no account must we rest on our laurels. For all this, our union's GDP is still a mere 4% of the world's. What does it mean? The potential of our integrated union is not being used in full. And over the next ten years we must, at a minimum, double this figure, by lending a new impetus to our integration," Lukashenko.
Some 18 important targets of the EAEU's development strategy to 2025 have not been met, he said. "You draw conclusions from here," Lukashenko said.
