Tajikistan has reportedly extended the spectrum of the study of possible entry into the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). 

Tajik authorities are currently studying the experience of membership of Kyrgyzstan and Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union.

The issue of possible entry of Tajikistan into the EAEU is still at the stage of consideration, Tajik Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Nematullo Hikmatullozoda, told a news conference in Dushanbe on January 31.

“We have repeatedly spoken of this issue.  The experience of Kyrgyzstan and Armenia is very important for us.  We have extended the spectrum of the study of possible entry into the Union,” the minister said.

He noted that Tajikistan has not yet initiated the negotiation process.  “We are not members of this organization and we have not yet initiated negotiations on joining this Union,” Hikmatullozoda added.

Recall, Khudoberdi Kholiqnazar, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, also noted on January 9 that Tajikistan can join the EAEU only after the thorough study of experience of neighboring countries that have joined the EAUE.

The head of Tajik think tank further added that Tajikistan was still at the stage of consideration of that issue.

The head of the Customs Service under the Government of Tajikistan, Abdufattoh Ghoib told reporters in Dushanbe on July 19, 2016 that they had been studying the issue of entry and “The working group has prepared all necessary materials and submitted them for consideration to the government.”

Earlier in July, Leonid Slutsky, a member of the Russian State Duma — chairman of the Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States, Eurasian Integration, and Links with Compatriots — said that Tajikistan would soon announce its intention to join the EAEU.  Slutsky said, “I think Dushanbe will declare its wish within the next year — it [Tajikistan] seeks after this more than any other CIS nation.”

Meanwhile, Tajik Ambassador to Belarus, Mr. Qozidavlat Qoimdodov, considers that Tajikistan needs time to thoroughly study the issue of joining the Eurasian Economic Union.

“Countries certainly should join together, but they need to do this bearing in mind their own interests.  It is wrong to join unions blindly, without much thought.  Tajikistan and Belarus are members of certain economic and political blocs,” Tajik diplomat told Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA in an interview in October last year.

“Countries certainly should join together, but they need to do this bearing in mind their own interests.  It is wrong to join unions blindly, without much thought.  Tajikistan and Belarus are members of certain economic and political blocs,” stressed Qoimdodov stressed.  “There ought to weigh all the pluses and the minuses of our possible entry into this integration union.”

At the same time, he noted that the EAEU member nations were major trading partners of Tajikistan.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is an economic union of states located primarily in northern Eurasia.  A treaty aiming for the establishment of the EAEU was signed on May 29, 2014 by the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and came into force on January 1, 2015. Treaties aiming for Armenia's and Kyrgyzstan's accession to the Eurasian Economic Union were signed on October 9 and December 23, 2014, respectively.  Armenia's accession treaty came into force on January 2, 2015.  Kyrgyzstan's accession treaty came into effect on August 6, 2015. It participated in the EAEU from the day of its establishment as an acceding state.