OREANDA-NEWS. October 27, 2009. The presidents of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan will sign Customs Union foundation papers in Minsk on 27 November, EurAsEC Secretary General Tair Mansurov told media after meeting with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko on 26 October.

The three heads of state are supposed to adopt the Customs Code, the Unified Customs Tariff and ink relevant customs administration documents at the Minsk summit.

“There is nothing to hinder our move to fully enable the operation of the Customs Union,” he said.

Tair Mansurov believes that the creation of the Customs Union is a major success and a breakthrough in the integration process. “The creation and start of the Customs Union operation when the three countries had to unify customs tariffs for over 11,000 commodities, and the fact that the three countries have managed to agree them, the fact that we are creating a united customs territory is truly a major breakthrough,” he said. This year has seen very active integration processes under Belarus’ presidency, stressed the EurAsEC Secretary General.

Tair Mansurov informed President of the EurAsEC Interstate Council, Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko about the progress in preparations for the next session, which is supposed to be held in Minsk on 27 November. He also informed Alexander Lukashenko about the fulfillment of the Belarus President’s proposals laid down in an address to EurAsEC heads of state on 26 November 2008. In particular, a biotechnology program has been approved, programs for healthcare, transport and communications, energy industry are being worked out. The Belarusian head of state was interested in learning about the progress in preparing the Customs Code, Unified Customs Tariff issues left to be addressed and what matters the heads of state will have to deal with in Saint Petersburg on 11 December. Alexander Lukashenko informed about the readiness of Customs Union foundation documents for signing.

Tair Mansurov remarked that over the two years a huge amount of work has been done to form the Customs Union legal base. The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia will start operating as from 1 January 2010. The state customs control at the Belarusian-Russian border will be lifted on 1 July 2010, the state customs control at the Russian-Kazakh border will be lifted on 1 July 2011.