Kazakhstan refuted a Russian parliamentary member’s comments that a common currency for the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) called evraz is in the works. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Press Secretary Dauren Abayev stated that the prospect of introducing a common currency with the Union’s four other members, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, is not on the agenda. Asked by media outlet Kazinform to respond to the Russian Duma Chairman of the Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Leonid Slutsky’s statement that the new evraz would be introduced soon, Abayev wrote on the presidential administration’s official Facebook page that the issue is not being discussed on any level of the integrated union.

RIA Novosti reported Slutsky stating that although work on introducing the common currency has commenced, the issue was proving difficult and would take time to carry out. Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission Viktor Khristenko echoed Slutky’s last assertion, commenting at the Eurasian Economic Outlook IV International Forum in October that the EAEU does not plan to introduce a common Eurasian currency, and that introducing such would not even be practically possible until 2025.

In an interview with Russian newspaper Kommersant in late October, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei was quoted saying that the time had not yet come to introduce a common currency in the EAEU, but that Kazakhstan’s 2015 entrance into the World Trade Organization will slow the EAEU’s progress. A July Diplomat article confirms his statement, reporting that Kazakhstan’s agreements with the WTO and EAEU means that the EAEU will be responsible for lowering tariffs along with Kazakhstan when necessary.

The prospect of creating a common Eurasian currency, pushed by Russia, has received a lukewarm response from other Eurasian states, especially as the ruble and other regional currencies continue to fluctuate in 2015’s volatile economic environment. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a currency union with Belarus and Kazakhstan in March, to which Presidents Lukashenko and Nazarbayev did not respond directly.

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News Briefs:

• RIA Novosti reported that Russia and Kuwait concluded an agreement to create a common investment platform, amid other arrangements for joint efforts. During the course of negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kuwaiti Emir Sabah al-Ahmad As-Sabah formed a series of joint ventures in the spheres of culture, transport and investment, including a common investment platform between the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Kuwait Investment Agency. A memorandum of mutual understanding was also signed between Russian gas company GazProm and the Kuwait Oil Company, as observers hinted at the possibility of a new Gazprom line in Kuwait, and cited falling gas prices as the impetus for As-Sabah’s visit to Russia. RIA Novosti also quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stating that the heads of state agreed that the solution to the conflict in Syria must be of a political nature. As-Sabah’s presence in Moscow comes on the heels of state visits from leaders of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Qatar since the end of August as Russia ramped up its military presence in the Middle East with airstrikes and assistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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• A portfolio manager of multinational investment management company BlackRock told Bloomberg in an interview that Russia has made a remarkable turnaround despite last year’s bleak economic predictions. BlackRock Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager Amer Bisat cited traditional concerns international companies have raised over investment in a currently risky economic climate, yet praised the “rare and unusual” trade surplus resultant from a rapidly devalued currency. According to Bisat, Russia has also made substantial progress compared to resource-producing economies and developing markets in the transfer of resources into the non-commodity sector.

• A BP official stated that the volume of oil production at the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Guneshli (ACG) field in the Caspian Sea was still ahead of projected figures, marking high output for the first three quarters of 2015. Regional Director of BP Gordon Birrell told media that output for the entire year is forecast at or above the 31.5 million tons of oil extracted from the ACG in 2014. BP is in talks with Azerbaijan to continue as the field’s operator past when its current contract expires in 2024.