Romano Prodi is pushing for greater integration between the EU and Eurasia in Brussels

Former EU Commission President Romano Prodi is firmly committed to strengthening relations between the European and the Eurasian Union. As “political relations are currently stagnating”, Prodi said, the economic integration of those two regions must be improved even more. The EU politician, who also served as Prime Minister of Italy before and after his term as Commission Chief (1999-2004), is seeking to bring together the network of economic areas between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The “First Connecting Eurasia Dialogue” should be established as a platform to connect businesspeople from Europe and Eurasia. The event took place on 15 March in Brussels, Creon Capital supports this dialogue as a main sponsor. More than 200 guests from Eurasian and European Union countries accepted the invitation to the Cercle Royal Gaulois in Brussels.

Creon Capital Chairman Fares Kilzie emphasized: “The Eurasian Economic Union is not a political initiative, and this should be demonstrated on this event to decision-makers in Brussels.” Too often, the region was reduced to political conflicts between the EU and Russia. “This politicization is a mistake”, says Kilzie: “Eurasia is a big market for European companies and vice versa. Economic relations in both directions must be promoted by politicians instead of being disturbed.”

The participants and panelists from Eurasia outnumbered the number of EU representatives. Kilzie criticized this: “This is more of a monologue, as representatives from Eurasia are much stronger represented in Brussels.” Similarly argued Mark Gyetvay, vice-president of Russian LNG manufacturer Novatek: “We need to work together and move from business to business to business.”

Both the Fund’s initiator Creon Group and the managing company Creon Capital support several initiatives to strengthen trade between East and West. Only two weeks ago, the Luxembourg fund management company joined a German initiative promoting free trade between Vladivostok and Lisbon. Russia’s minister of economy Maksim Oreshkin attended the signing ceremony during a Russian-German conference on bilateral economic relations.