Temir Sariev worries that there is no trust between member-states of EEU

Ex-Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Temir Sariev believes that the member states of the EEU should trust each other and fulfill their obligations in accordance with earlier reached agreements. He told about it to 24.kg news agency.

The former head of government reminded that Kyrgyzstan is a member of many integration unions, and the authorities should pursue a policy in accordance with their obligations, and also very carefully approach the issues in order to avoid undesirable consequences.

I am worried about the presence of Kazakh customs officers on the border. Kazakhstan claims that a lot of «gray imports» goes through our country. That is, they want to establish a triple control: in addition to customs officers, representatives of the EEU will also be on the posts. But there is no such norm in the agreement on EEU.

Temir Sariev

«In accordance with the requirements of the Customs Code, we must trust each other. If we do not trust, then we put our representatives at all customs points of all members of the union. This indicates that our partners have great doubts. That is, the president and the government need to show political will and change the leadership of the State Customs Service. All checkpoints should have video surveillance and strict control. Only then our partners will have full confidence,» Temir Sariev said.

He added that the Customs Code, ratified by the Parliament on November 30, specifically provides, in particular, video recording on posts. The former head of the Cabinet stressed: Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan should return to the state they were in before October 10, when Kazakhstan tightened phytosanitary control and many kilometers queues of trucks appeared on the border.

The situation was resolved on December 2, when the checkpoints started to work in the regular mode.

According to Temir Sariev, the government needs to speed up the procedure for passing goods. He believes that the government should solve the issue of compensation of losses to entrepreneurs.

«We had such practice. In 2010, a similar commission was established, and then we for the first time allocated certain funds for the affected entrepreneurs. At the same time, a deferral was introduced on payments from the affected businessmen to the Social Fund, it also dealt with taxes. Some businessmen were exempted from certain taxes for a certain period and after the tragic June events in the south of the country,» Temir Sariev concluded.

Here, the government should also think through and provide support from the budget to those who actually incurred losses from idle time at the border. But the most important thing is that we must learn lessons not to repeat such mistakes.

Temir Sariev