"One of the priorities of the Eurasian Economic Commission’s activities is to establish the relationships between the EU and the EAEU"

As noted by the EEC representative, the driving force in the discussion of cooperation between the two unions is to a greater extent the European business. "It means that the Eurasian market that they are losing is very important to them. This year, for the first time ever, imports in the EAEU from the EU equaled imports from the APEC countries. In 2014, the EU share in total imports in the EAEU countries amounted to 43.8%, and the APEC share was 38.6%, in the period from January to September 2016, the APEC share surpassed that of the EU - 42.1% versus 41%, correspondingly,” said Timur Suleimenov.
For this reason, the activation of the dialogue with the EU, the European Commission, and development of promising areas of cooperation have all the greater importance. According to the EEC representative, the potential agenda can include issues such as trade in goods and services, removal of non-tariff barriers, liberalization of access to financial markets, joint implementation of major transport infrastructure projects such as the Silk Road Economic Belt, Trans-European Network projects, etc., development of common electricity markets.
The EEC Minister reminded that the EU is the largest trade and economic partner of the Eurasian Economic Union. Thus, more than 50% of the overall volume of foreign trade turnover of the EAEU states is trade with the countries of the European Union.
"The transition to a new phase of relationships development would require intensive and hard work of our countries’ governments. Active interaction between the two integration associations offers great opportunities for accelerating economic development of our countries," said Timur Suleimenov.
Press-release at the official Eurasian Economic Commission web-site