Uzbekistan is exploring the possibility of joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) with observer status rather than as a full member, the country’s president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has announced, according to a report by Kun.uz (in Uzbek).
“We are not joining as a member. We must first ascertain whether doing so would be advantageous to us in the present circumstances,” the news website records the head of state as saying. “An observer is not a member. It is like being a spectator. We need to work out what suits us and what does not.”
As Gazeta.uz points out, Mirziyoyev did not name the EAEU directly, speaking instead of integration, but from the context it was clear that he was talking about the likely entrance of Uzbekistan into this particular organisation. As the news website writes, the president stated that at the informal meeting of leaders of CIS countries held in December in Saint Petersburg, he had discussed the subject with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “We met with many different people, and then over the course of an hour-long face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Vladimirovich, we talked it all through and came to an agreement. At the appropriate time, I will reveal all the details,” Mirziyoyev promised. And he assured his audience that “all our actions are directed towards the interests of our people, of our economy.”
The president added that at least $50 billion is required in order to stabilise the Uzbek economy. “Who is going to give us this much money? Other countries will give us a loan – it will be a political loan. We’re looking for partners. For them to come into our market with their money and be our partners,” Mirziyoyev explained.
Uzbekistan’s plans to join the EAEU were made public on 2 October 2019, when they were announced by Russian senate speaker Valentina Matvienko. The Uzbek government confirmed its interest in Eurasian integration but said that no decision regarding the EAEU had yet been made and that it was studying the “pros and cons” of membership in the union. Following this, a public debate began on the wisdom of such a step.
During the visit of acting Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to Tashkent earlier this January, the Uzbek side asked the Russian Federation for privileges for a number of sectors of its economy and a broad amnesty for labour migrants in the case of the country’s entrance into the EAEU.
