Euro-Asian
Economic Co-operation and
Integration: Myths or Reality?
Yelena Kalyuzhnova
Director, The Centre for Euro-Asian Studies,
The University of Reading, UK
UNECE Workshop
8 November 2003, Athens
Contents

Objectives of Regulatory Convergence

The Common Economic Zone within the
CIS

Energy and Economies

Interregional Trade: Example of Gas

Central Asia's Emerging Energy Market
Objectives of Regulatory
Convergence





Foster cooperation between countries with
developed and developing regulatory systems
Ensuring safe and effective products
Promoting technological innovation
Facilitating international trade
Information exchange for countries with developing
regulatory systems
The Common Economic
Zone within the CIS
On 19 September 2003 the presidents of Russia, the
Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed the founding
document to establish a "Common Economic Zone"
(CEZ).
Glossary:
Economic zone
Grouping of countries with some common economic
features.
Examples of such economic zones are:
· EU15 (Member States of the European Union)
· Euro-zone (Member States who have adopted the Euro:
sometimes referred to as EUR 11 or, from 1 January
2001, EUR 12)
· EFTA (Countries of the European Free Trade
Association)
· OPEC (Member States of the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries)
· NAFTA (Countries of the North American Free Trade
Agreement)
· CEZ ????
The Common Economic
Zone within the CIS
The desire to “have a co-ordinated
economic policy on several fronts, to
harmonies the relevant legislations, and
to create a single, independent,
regulatory commission on trade and
tariffs”.
The Common Economic
Zone within the CIS
The agreement envisage free movements of
 Goods
and services
 Capital
 Labour
The Common Economic Zone
within the CIS

CIS

Eurasian Economic Union

GUUAM [GeorgiaUkraine-UzbekistanAzerbaijan-Moldova]

CEZ ???
Example of turbulent
integration in the past:
Energy Sector

The interested parties
 Transit routes
 Hydrocarbon in Euro-Asia
 Emerging energy market of Central Asia:
lessons to be learnt
Transit Routes

Fragile

Security remains a substantial problem

Finding alternate land-sea routes is a
difficult venture
Euro-Asia – Oil Pipelines
The Ukraine – Oil Pipelines
Source: Centre for Global Energy Studies
Euro-Asia – Gas Pipelines
Energy and Water Issues in
Central Asia
Upstream
countries
Kyrgyzstan
 Tajikistan
POSSESSING:

-Water
-Hydropower resources
LACKING:
-Oil and Gas resources
Downstream
countries
CONFLICT
OF
INTERESTS
Kazakhstan
 Uzbekistan
 Turkmenistan
POSSESSING:

-Oil, Gas, Coal
LACKING:
-Water resources
Conclusion

The early years of independence saw a sharp decline in most
sectors of these economies and increasing disintegration of
the economic links between them, which highlighted their
interdependence.

Control over the economic integration and co-operation is
connected to the desire for power in the region.

The success of any further economic integration will be
highly dependent on the policies adopted by the
governments.