IN THE CIS COUNTRIES CUSTOMS UNION

In 1995 three countries of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) established a Customs Union, which Kyrgyzstan and Tadjikistan joined later. After the passage of five years since the Customs Union formation, it is essential to assess the implications of Belarus ’ membership in this Customs Union. The objective of this project is the analysis of the costs and benefits of the Belarus ’ participation in the Customs Union of the CIS countries based on the study of the static and dynamic economic effects and their impact on the nation’s welfare, and the Belarus ’ economy growth rate. As the evaluations of Belarus ’ participation in the Customs Union by the country’s government and political opposition are completely opposite, a politically independent analysis is of principal importance