The principles of functioning of the national regime of public procurement within the EAEU need to be adjusted, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov said during the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Yerevan, Kursiv reported.
The development of the EAEU must be built on a solid foundation for the implementation of basic agreements, Smagulov believes.
This means a barrier-free environment for the movement of goods, services and workers.
Smailov noted that the constant changes in the rules in the EAEU are due to the fact that in practice the parties establish additional requirements.
“I think that in general it is necessary to adjust the principles of the functioning of the national regime of public procurement. As an option, it is possible to define a public procurement threshold below which national treatment will not be granted. The parties will legitimately be able to establish preferences for national producers below the designated threshold,” he said, noting that this practice is applied within the WTO.
Smailov also called technical regulation a problematic issue, where out of 52 technical regulations in force today, 35 were adopted before the start of the functioning of the EAEU.
In this regard, in some cases it is necessary to update the technical regulations. According to him, by forming a single base of technical regulations, governments pursued the goal of free circulation of goods that meet safety requirements.
Despite external challenges, Kazakhstan’s mutual trade with the EAEU countries over the eight months of this year exceeded $17 billion, which is 5% higher than in the same period last year, Smagulov said.
Since the establishment of the EAEU, Kazakhstan has increased exports of processed products to the Union countries by 64%, and in general, Kazakhstani exports to the EAEU countries have grown by 35%. In February, Smailov expressed the opinion that the effectiveness of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should be assessed in terms that are understandable to citizens.
The meeting of the EAEU Intergovernmental Council is being held in Yerevan on October 21-22, 2022 under the chairmanship of Kyrgyzstan.
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Oct. 21, 2022