Kyrgyz PM Proposes Customs Union Fund

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiev (file photo)

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiev has proposed that a new fund be created to support countries that express their willingness to join a Russia-led customs union.

Speaking at the Eurasian Economic Council's session in Astana on September 25, Satybaldiev also reiterated Bishkek's readiness to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

The prime ministers of the customs union's member states, as well as those of Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine, attended the council session.

Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov said that the presence of the Ukrainian and Kyrgyz prime ministers confirmed the two countries' intentions to take part in the Eurasian integration process.

Ukraine is hoping to sign key association and free-trade agreements with the EU in November.

Moscow, which has been pushing former Soviet republics to join the customs union, has said the union will be widened into a Eurasian economic union, modeled after the European Union, by 2015.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS