Kyrgyz ex-President Askar Akayev said at the Moscow Economic Forum that large geopolitical players were fighting for integration of post-Soviet states in their own economy. He emphasized that there was no other way to develop, besides integration. The ex-president pointed out Moldova and Georgia who were among the targets Europe tried to drag into its economy. Akayev assures that only strong regional integration would help Russia and CIS states to achieve world-level development.
The Kyrgyz ex-leader said that Ukraine needed to join one of the integration projects. He noted that the Ukrainian economy was in a grave condition and alien to Europe. The only solution for Ukraine is the Customs Union and then the Eurasian Union.
According to Akayev, the South Caucasus, except Armenia, was less interested in Eurasian integration. Armenia is eager to join the Customs Union. Azerbaijan and Georgia have chosen their own vectors and Akayev doubts that they can join the Eurasian integration processes in any way.
Constantine Babkin, president of the Novoye Sodruzhestvo Industrial Union, co-chair of the Moscow Economic Forum, said that only development of economy could attract attention to Eurasian projects. He expressed hope that the situation in Ukraine would help reconsider the economic policy.
Babkin forecasts that Ukraine will go through Russophobia if it sees an example of economic development in Russia. Ukraine would end hostilities with Russia as soon as it sees the rapid development of agriculture in Kazakhstan and Armenia and realize that living in the Customs Union is a lot better than under EU association. The expert believes that integration will boost agriculture by opening consumer markets in Russia and Belarus.
