Eurasian become seven five

The Eurasian "five" are becoming "seven", said Secretary General of the Eurasian Economic Community, EurAsEC, Grigory Rapota at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday. He recalled that in compliance with the EurAsEC interstate council's decision at the member states' presidential level dated May 13th, 2002, Ukraine and Moldova became observers of the new economic organization, uniting Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

When answering the question whether Ukraine was ready to become the Community's full member, Rapota said that Ukraine and Moldova would need time to understand "what we are doing".

Now the discussion concerns "our technical cooperation", the Secretary General said. The observer status implies that Ukraine and Moldova may take full part in all the Community's arrangements, but without a right to vote, he explained.

About 50 interstate agreements are in force within the EurAsEc, and countries willing to become the organization's full members will have to join these agreements, Rapota stressed.