Russia Proposes Greater Eurasian Partnership to Unite Fragmented Continent

KAZAN, May 14. /TASS/. Today, Eurasia is like a "patchwork quilt," one that could benefit greatly from the Greater Eurasian Partnership, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department of Economic Cooperation Dmitry Birichevsky said at the Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum. "The continent itself resembles a patchwork quilt. Dozens of platforms operate autonomously, somewhat disjointedly, sometimes duplicating each other; different regulatory regimes are introduced, and infrastructure connectivity is largely absent. All this leads to lower well-being and costs for businesses," the diplomat said. According to him, "to overcome such barriers, based on the Eurasian Union, the Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative was created and conceived." "This is a flexible, umbrella format designed to unite the entire diversity of Eurasian cooperation and launch integration," Birichevsky emphasized. He assured that in the Greater Eurasian Partnership "there is not just no rigid bureaucracy, there is no bureaucracy at all, no obligations: everyone retains the choice of which projects to join and to what extent." According to the head of the Foreign Ministry department, it is also necessary "to look closely and carefully study the practices" of successful examples of continental integration in Africa and Latin America. "We see great prospects for further strengthening Russia’s relations with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation with the assistance of the Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group," the diplomat believes. In his view, "strong Islamic traditions in many African states also create good opportunities for intercontinental dialogue." "In the economic sphere, options for utilizing the North-South corridor - the shortest route from St. Petersburg through Central Asia and Iran to the ports of the Indian Ocean - in conjunction with routes of the Arabian Peninsula and Africa could be considered," Birichevsky explained. He also drew attention to the expansion of the network of free trade agreements of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), recalling that in recent years the EAEU has concluded such agreements with the UAE, Mongolia, Indonesia, and Iran. "In total, the markets of the EAEU’s partner countries under all such agreements, together with the CIS states, cover 730 million people," the diplomat indicated. "An additional driver of growth could be a free trade agreement between the EAEU and Egypt," Birichevsky said, clarifying that "negotiations on it are already underway."