Set aside barriers: the EAEU economy grew by 13% under external pressure

The share of settlements in national currencies between the EAEU countries has reached 93%, Vladimir Putin said on December 21 at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg. During the period of the association's operation, the volume of mutual direct investments exceeded $20 billion. The total GDP of the EAEU countries increased by 11% in 2020-2024, and will add another 2% by the end of this year. At the same time, the leaders also discussed challenges — Alexander Lukashenko noted that decisive steps are needed to reduce imports of agricultural products. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for the removal of the remaining barriers in mutual trade. It was noted at the meeting that more and more countries want to cooperate with the EAEU. With whom the association has concluded a new trade agreement and what will happen at the next summit — in the Izvestia article.

How St. Petersburg welcomed the EAEU Summit

Leaders from all over the CIS gathered in St. Petersburg on December 21. A busy program awaits them in the coming days, as it always happens at the end of December. On the first day, participation in the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council. Before him, Vladimir Putin managed to meet and have one-on-one talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Despite the well-coordinated cooperation between Moscow and Minsk, the politicians always have something to discuss. The Russian president admitted that he watched a live broadcast of his Belarusian counterpart's speech before the National Assembly of the Republic — it lasted almost five hours. By the way, Lukashenko did not come empty—handed - as a gift to Putin, he brought an impressive painting with landscapes of Valaam, which he wanted to give back on his birthday on October 7.

Meanwhile, the heads of the EAEU states began to gather at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. Among them are Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The first thing we did was talk in a narrow format. Vladimir Putin took the floor as the host of the venue.

— Cooperation within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, which has firmly established itself as one of the independent and self-sufficient centers of the emerging multipolar world, continues to develop steadily. Mutual trade and investment exchanges are expanding, and cooperative ties between the members of the association are deepening," Vladimir Putin said.

Kazakhstan will assume the chairmanship of the EAEU in 2026, but for now Belarus will have this "post". Alexander Lukashenko moderated the meeting and first of all thanked his Russian counterpart for the good organization and the "absence of problems with movement" of the delegations. Which, however, is not surprising, because for this event the central streets of St. Petersburg were blocked. As a result, traffic jams formed in the city. Residents of St. Petersburg also complained about problems with the mobile Internet.

After communicating in a narrow circle, the leaders of the EAEU countries moved on to the meeting in an expanded format — they were joined by Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the head of Uzbekistan, an observer at the EAEU. And this is no coincidence — the foreign trade turnover of the state with the members of the union has almost doubled over the past four years, the politician noted. We would be glad to see Tashkent as a full member of the association, Alexander Lukashenko hinted.

He noted that in Asia, as well as in Africa, there are many countries with which trade could strengthen the union. And the number of people willing to cooperate with the EAEU is growing. A free trade agreement with Iran has already entered into force, and they have been concluded with the UAE and Mongolia. At the end of the meeting, the countries signed a free trade area agreement with Indonesia.: It is expected that it will reset duties on 94% of exports of the Union states to the republic.

The international positioning of the EAEU is very important in the context of strengthening the organization, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov stressed to Izvestia.

— Signing agreements with other states strengthens not only us, but also our allies. The Global South, as we say. And we consider the signing of the third agreement during the presidency of Belarus to be an undoubted success," he said.

Results and prospects of the EAEU work

Under conditions of enormous external pressure, the EAEU countries are actively developing their economies. In 2020-2024, the union's GDP grew by 11%, industry by 15%, and agriculture by 10%. The trend has continued in 2025: the total GDP of the EAEU countries will increase by 2%. Kyrgyzstan became the champion among the "five" countries in this regard. Vladimir Putin congratulated Sadyr Japarov and his entire team on the more than 10% GDP growth in 2025.

At the same time, wages are rising in all states of the union, while the unemployment rate remains minimal. The volume of mutual direct investments of the EAEU countries exceeded $20 billion, the President of Kazakhstan added. This was facilitated, among other things, by a stable and independent payment infrastructure. Thus, the share of settlements in national currencies already stands at 93%, the Russian president said.

Issues of bilateral relations were also discussed at the meeting. For example, Nikol Pashinyan thanked Ilham Aliyev for unblocking cargo transportation to Armenia through Azerbaijan, which opens up new prospects for trade. Against this background, the latter noted the beginning of a new peaceful stage in relations between Yerevan and Baku.

— The EAEU is becoming a key platform that prevents Russia from entering economic isolation. Most likely, without the established cooperation in the union, it would be more difficult to withstand the sanctions pressure," Dmitry Yelovsky, a political analyst, told Izvestia.

Countering economic pressure is now one of the key areas of work, the expert believes. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other countries are forced to maneuver between the Global East, South and West in order to maintain their economic sovereignty.

According to the Belarusian president, the unilateral closure of national markets is being carried out not only by traditional means (such as banning imports, exports or licensing), but also through digitalization. Minsk has initiated consideration of this issue at least at the level of developing recommendations, but the member countries of the association have not made much progress here yet.

— We are reviewing the basic agreements of 2014 set out in the treaty on the Union, postponing the formation of common energy markets, medicines and medical devices, and noting the unwillingness of all countries to join the single financial market. We are adding new problems to the existing problems with the unhindered movement of goods in mutual trade," Lukashenko said.

The EAEU countries should begin to eliminate administrative barriers to mutual trade, as well as restrictions on movement at the internal borders of the member states, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev added.

"In the truest sense of the word, there are kilometer—long queues when moving vehicles at the borders," the Kazakh leader pointed out.

The next EAEU summit will be held on May 28-29 in Astana. The priority for unification will be to strengthen the transport framework of the union, the Russian president said.