Russian Trade and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko will head the Eurasian Economic Commission board over the next four years, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday.
“I think we can say that we have unanimously supported Khristenko for this post,” Nazarbayev said during a news conference after the meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
“We can even say we have already appointed him (Khristenko),” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko added.
According to Nazarbayev, executive bodies of the commission will be located in Moscow for the first four years.
“It will be probably right to locate the executive bodies in Moscow for these years, due to the intellectual and economic potential for the solution of many complicated issues,” Nazarbayev said.
Nazarbayev also added that it would be better for the equality if the term of office amounted to two years with a possible two-year extension in the future.
The economic commission, a supranational body, is expected to replace the commission of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which will be dissolved on July 1, 2012.
It will consist of the council, represented by one deputy prime minister from each of the member states, and the board, consisting of three representatives of each member state. The commission will also have the power to establish consultative bodies and departments responsible for decision-making and monitoring of the subordinate branches. The commission will be extended to 1,200 individuals from the current 150.