EAEU serves as independent power center in multipolar world, says Putin

MOSCOW, May 8 (Xinhua) -- The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has become one of the independent and self-sufficient centers of the emerging multipolar world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Addressing a summit meeting of the EAEU's Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Putin said the EAEU has become an effective and dynamic integration organization whose work contributes to the development of trade and investment exchanges, the strengthening of commercial ties and the expansion of cooperative relations.

"The volume of mutual trade has almost doubled from 45 billion to 89 billion U.S. dollars," said Putin, adding that more than 90 percent of settlements are already carried out in national currencies.

He called on EAEU member states to make joint efforts to achieve further integration and comprehensive development within the bloc.

The summit kicked off in Moscow on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the treaty to establish the union, which was also attended by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The EAEU, which was officially established in January 2015, is a regional bloc consisting of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia.