Perspectives of Agrarian Sector on Kyrgyzstan’s Membership in the EEU

Abstract

Eurasian Economic Union is a culmination of integrational efforts, started after the dissolution of USSR. It started functioning in January 2015 with acceptance of Armenia and in August 2015 Kyrgyzstan become a member of EEU. The main goal of the Union is to create a common market without internal barriers. The authorities of Kyrgyz Republic promoted the membership in EEU and a way to provide food security and develop agricultural sector where more than 600 thousand people were employed and citizens of Kyrgyzstan welcomed that membership in EEU. Development of the agrarian sector via membership was one of the priorities of the Kyrgyz government. This thesis provides an analysis on the perspectives of the agrarian sector within the EEU with current realities. Moreover, the thesis aims to identify the attitudes of people employed in the agrarian sector toward the membership in EEU. Field research with interview of businessmen and peasants were conducted to identify what was the changes after the entrance to the Union. Moreover, survey was conducted to demonstrate the attitudes of the peasant and people employed in the agrarian sector towards the memberships in EEU. The study results show that there were no major changes in agrarian sector after the introduction of common tariffs with member states and that attitudes of people towards the membership still remain positive. My study of the subjects contributes to the existing debate on structural relationship between Kyrgyzstan and other EEU member states by exploring sectoral changes of the economy and attitudes of people employed in this sector.