Does Eurasian integration need public dialogue?

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Tomorrow presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan should meet in Moscow to discuss cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats, including within the Common Economic Space and the Eurasian Union. Integration processes initiated by Putin and Nazarbayev are a popular subject of expert discussions.

According to Alexei Vlasov, executive director of the Center for Political Studies "North - South", editor-in-chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, “the format of public dialogue should be added to economic integration. Integration and the economic project lack public support. Key issues to be solved at the level of heads of state, President Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbayev,  undoubtedly. Problems arise when our relations fall to the next step down, to the level of administrative bureaucracy because each ministry, agency or individual official has a definite interest. Density of interaction increases, and, of course, there are certain tensions, they are inevitable. But if these tensions arise against the background of  wide public support for the idea of economic integration, all these issues can be resolved by simple interagency negotiations and not brought to the front pages of the press, not excite Russian or Kazakh society and  follow the same calm, confident, clear path, like two, three, four years ago. Public support is a guarantee of preservation of the firmness and consistency of the course which was scheduled.”

Vlasov believes “we need to institutionalize community initiatives on the approximation of the intelligentsia, the intellectual community. Why do not we think about creating a forum which would unite the representatives of the social circles and groups that advocate the development of public support for the Eurasian economic integration project. The question is not whether to create another layer of bureaucracy. The task is to accumulate and consolidate the opinions, attitudes, desires of rapprochement between the forces which understand that in the XXI century the countries that are outside of integration are doomed to lag.

Nurlan Yerimbetov, head of the Center for Social Partnership within the National Welfare Fund "Samruk-Kazyna", noted that “after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we sought to enter Europe, America and so on. We realized that we should be together. The world is very cynical today. We need to stop wandering across continents - it's time to pay attention to our neighbors. I sometimes say to my fellow politicians: let's at least look at this in terms of our own situation. Kazakhstan will not have any fresh water in 20-25 years. We have common problems in ecology. We have the Caspian Sea, the Urals, huge challenges that tomorrow will appear on the agenda. There is the issue of food programs, food supply. The world is already starving. Desert is advancing. In the end, let's just survive, let us think of our grandchildren, who do not want to live in the desert.”

“With regard to our discussion forums - I think that the first thing is that we could engage our parties in it. This could be part of parties' work, the establishment of these relations. This is a huge number of smart, intelligent people, with access to the public. They can talk about it, it must be in the party program,” Yerimbetov thinks.

However, Vlasov disagrees with such an initiative from the top: “Two or three times Nurlan was a member of the Russian-Kazakh expert forums and clubs along with me, and none of these structures over the past 5-7 years has worked. The reason for it was that most of them were the fruit of a bureaucratic initiative. To some of the officials, whether in Moscow or in Astana, it was interesting to offer their initiative of the creation of a top expert niche. As soon as the officer left his place of work or some rules of the game were changed, this stillborn child would be left aside. Although, interest in such cooperation on the part of ordinary experts has always been huge. The question, in my opinion, is that these structures, of which we are now speaking, should be built not from the top down but from the bottom up. I understand that there is always the issue of funding, of other things associated with some kind of formal, bureaucratic moments. But if we are going to wait again for a solution from above, we risk a situation where we can miss the last departing train.”

Yerimbetov stated that it would be nice to create the club like at the Valdai forum: “I offer our version - Burabaj? This is a nice place. We will have theopportunity not only to talk, but also to relax. And, after all, once there were organizations such as the Society of Kazakh-Russian friendship. Where are they? Where are these people? Why are we leaving many anxious conversations at home, in our kitchens, while on the street we hug each other, slap ourselves on the shoulder and leave home to other conversations?”

Vlasov proposed the initiators of the economic forum which will be held from 22 to 24 May in Astana to hold a panel associated with the discussion of forms of public support for business initiatives and socio-cultural initiatives within the Eurasian integration project, which would be attended by the ministers, members of the Eurasian Economic Commission, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce in Russia and leading experts of the two countries.