The Eurasian Economic Union and the Integration Process in the Asia Pacific

Abstract

Since 2015, the Eurasian Economic Commission has become a key agent of Russian external trade policy and the policy of connecting with China’s Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. It has been responsible for all of Russia’s current free trade negotiations, and in the future may encompass wider frames of international economic cooperation. However, because of its short track record, the Eurasian Economic Commission is not very well studied in Russia or abroad. This article analyzes the current international exchanges between the Commission and Asian countries, and attempts to study other formats of cooperation with Asian actors where the Commission can be involved in the future according to its mandate. Our study reveals that bilateral exchanges remain dominant between the EAEU and Asian partners, and a switch to multilateral tracks like EAEU‐ASEAN or EAEU‐RCEP can occur only in the medium‐term future. Both the analysis of open negotiations and of the Commission’s organizational resources prove this hypothesis.