Eurasian Economic Union “Should Include New African & Asian Partners”—Belarus Prime Minister

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should focus on advancing on its external contour and form a list of new partners, Belarusian Prime Minister Alexander Turchin has advised, stating, “Currently the EAEU is facing the task of forming a list of new partners. I think this work should emphasize the friendly Asian and African countries whose markets are of interest to producers in our countries.”

Turchin was speaking during a Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting in Moscow on Thursday (December 11). The EAEU includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia and has trade agreements with China, Iran, Mongolia, Serbia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, with several others, most notably with Indonesia and India under negotiation. The EAEU fills the geographic space between Eastern Europe and Western China and has a GDP (PPP) of 5.5 trillion. Current GDP growth is running at 6%.

Turchin added that “Three countries – Myanmar, Nicaragua and Venezuela – have applied to receive EAEU observer status.”

Such a status would allow observers to better understand how the EAEU operates and assess their own economic suitability for later participating in a free trade agreement with it.

Belarus’ EAEU presidency is ending and will be taken over by Kazakhstan during 2026.