State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin will open the hearings, followed by the keynote speech from Head of Eurasian Economic Committee Viktor Khristenko.

The hearings will feature speeches from State Secretary of the Union Gregory Rapota, First Deputy Head of Federal Migration Service Ekaterina Egorova, Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin, ministry officials, scientists and experts.

“Economic integration in Eurasia is a 21st century priority for Russia”, Committee Chair Leonid Slutsky told the press.

He called the creation of the Russia-Belorussia-Kazakhstan Eurasian Economic Community by 1 January 2015 a ‘strategic goal’.

“The basic principle for EEC is the ‘four freedoms’ – free circulation of goods/services, capital and human resources”, said the Duma house member.

He said that progress has been made by the Customs Union and the EEC. However, he thinks that much remains to be done to make Eurasian integration a success.

“Unified markets, integrated infrastructure across all economic sectors is among our goals”, said Slutsky.

He also highlighted the importance of migration. “It would appear logical to gradually unify migration and visa policies within the future Eurasian union to abolish internal border control for the citizens of member states”, he added.

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