Are the two Eastern powers uniting their two big projects?
Author: Talib Aliyev, analyst (Moscow)
For two days now Sochi has been hosting meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The next meeting of the intergovernmental council will be held under the auspices of the Russian chairmanship in the EAEU bodies in 2023. Within the framework of the program, a wide range of issues of trade and economic cooperation was considered, in particular, energy, transport infrastructure, and the digital agenda.
The meeting of the intergovernmental council is attended by the prime ministers of the observer countries of the Eurasian Economic Union - Cuba and Uzbekistan, as well as the invited countries - Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
The issues of integration, development of transport policy, including within the framework of trade and economic cooperation with China, and the integration of the Eurasian Economic Union with the Chinese initiative "One Belt, One Road" are of interest at this meeting.
The Eurasian Economic Union is Russia's big project for economic integration in Eurasia, and China's Belt and Road Initiative serves this purpose. These two plans have always been a thorn in the side of the United States of America and other Western countries, because they have no place for them, and they aim to economically push them out of the Eurasian continent.
In short, the integration of these two significant projects will mean an economic union of China and Russia and their member and participating countries, which will have great political and security implications. If we proceed from this rule that the economy is the basis of politics and security, then the integration of these two projects will be a death blow to the interests of America and its allies in Eurasia.
Another interesting point is the participation in this meeting of the prime ministers of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan, which have not yet received membership in the European Economic Union and consider cooperation within the framework of the One Belt, One Road initiative to be the most important aspect of their cooperation with China.
The top leadership of Russia has expressed interest in the participation of these countries in these meetings. For example, in March, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin personally invited his Tajik counterpart Kahir Rasulzade to Sochi. A similar point of view is shared by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly stated the importance of cooperation between Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan with the Eurasian Economic Union. Such interaction will strengthen the relationship between long-standing trusted partners and benefit all involved.
In the past, these countries, while expressing interest in joining the Eurasian Economic Union, have also been cautious. They have shown the same caution with China's Belt and Road Initiative to some extent.
But now, when the issue of merging these two big projects is also included in the program of work of large meetings, apparently, all conditions are being created for creating a new super project, under which all countries will gather, in order to achieve the main goal - economic growth and prosperity, strengthening security, creating sustainable and just societies in Eurasia.
How will these changes be perceived by the United States and its allies, who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, carried out all the programs with huge money to keep the countries of the continent apart, and in a state of permanent conflict?
Despite the difficult political situation in the world and attempts to isolate Russia and China, these two countries have opened their doors to everyone interested in peaceful constructive cooperation to create a secure and prosperous Eurasia.
