03 October 2014 from RapsiNews Website             MOSCOW (RAPSI)   President Vladimir Putin has signed into law the ratification of the treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), RIA Novosti reports on Friday. The treaty, which the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed in May, seals the three countries' agreement on the transition to the next stage of integration following the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space.   The EAEU is aimed at completing the creation of the largest common market in the CIS, with an aggregate population of 170 million.   This common market should become, "a new and powerful center of economic development." The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, ratified the treaty on Wednesday. The treaty will become effective in 2015 to boost the development of trade, economic and cooperative ties, enhance the member-states' economic competitiveness and strengthen their role in the global economy.   Kazakhstan and Belarus are expected to ratify the treaty before the trilateral meeting in Minsk in October. President Putin said at the Russia Calling! Investment Forum on Thursday that the number of this union's members would grow, that Armenia is completing the process of accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, and that the member-states are actively negotiating with Kyrgyzstan. He said that the EAEU would establish close ties with other integration structures both in Europe and Asia. "Such cooperation would add stability to the global economy," the Russian president said.               Russia Completes Ratification of... Eurasian Economic Union -   Putin Signs Law   - October 03, 2014 from RT Website       Russian President Vladimir Putin. (RIA Novosti/Aleksey Nikolskyi)     Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying a historic treaty, committing Russia to an economic union with Belarus and Kazakhstan.   The Eurasian Economic Union will come into effect in January 2015. Putin's signature in the document puts the final dot in Russia's ratification of the union which will be in place on January 1, 2015, as the other union states are expected to complete ratification in the next few days. The economic union is the next step of integration within the Customs Union between the three countries. The agreement had previously been ratified by the Russian State Duma and the Federal Council of Russia. It will help cut trade barriers and be the largest common market in the ex-Soviet sphere, comprising over 170 million people.   The troika of countries will cooperate in, energy industry agriculture transport The ruble will become the de facto currency of the organization, although each country will still keep their local currency. Financial integration is a major part of the agreement, while Russian, which is very widely spoken in both Belarus and Kazakhstan, will be the working language of the union.   The headquarters of the union will be in Moscow, with the courts in Minsk, and Almaty will be the home of the financial regulatory body. Citizens of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan will have the right to work freely throughout the member states without the need for a work permit. Over the last three years trade within the Customs Union has increased by $23 billion, or by nearly 50 percent.   At the end of 2013, it stood at $66.2 billion. Belarus and Kazakhstan are in third place in foreign trade with the Russian Federation, after the EU and China.     Return to Russia and The EU