Experts of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have called the Customs Union of 3 former Soviet states "a successful example of economical integration". The Customs Union is an alliance between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus which was concluded in 2009 to ease the customs procedures between its member countries.

After the alliance was concluded, the trade volume between the three countries increased 2 times. The reasons for that were that the countries' economies have already to a large extent recovered from the financial crisis and that a unified customs tariff was introduced in the three countries.

Experts of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development say that membership in the Customs Union is beneficial for all the three of its member countries, although the amount of Russia's economy is much bigger than that of Belarus and of Kazakhstan. In the future, the unified customs laws may also help the three countries to export their goods abroad.

Source: Voice of Russia