Евразийское экономическое сообщество

on cooperation in protection of external borders

of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Community

on 21 February 2003¹

The Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

guided by the interests of practical realization of the provisions of the Treaty on the Establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000,

recognizing the need for close cooperation in the area of defense and protection of external borders of the Parties,

proceeding from a common interest in ensuring the security of the Eurasian Economic Community member states,

have agreed as follows:

Article 1

For the purposes of this Treaty the term “external borders” shall mean the state borders of the Eurasian Economic Community member states with the states that are not Parties to the Treaty on the Establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community.

Article 2

The Parties shall cooperate in suppressing terrorist acts and the illegal transit of weapons and ammunition, explosives, toxic, narcotic and psychotropic substances, radioactive materials and other smuggled items across the external borders, as well as in fighting illegal migration and manifestations of religious extremism.

Article 3

The Parties shall take measures to harmonies national legal and other regulatory acts on issues related to state borders in accordance with the Protocol on the basic principles of the frontier guard agencies’ activities to assist in harmonizing the legal and other regulatory frameworks of member states of the Eurasian Economic Community (Annex 1).

Article 4

Frontier guard agencies of the Parties pursuant to the Agreement on Information Cooperation among Eurasian Economic Community member states on issues related to state border defense of 14 September, 2001, shall carry out a constant exchange of information on the situation at external borders, as well as on other issues, related to state border defense and those of mutual interest to the Parties.

On some individual issues concerning border defense, the frontier guard agencies of the Parties shall conduct mutual consultations in accordance with the Protocol on procedure for conducting mutual consultations on issues of the Eurasian Economic Community member states’ external border defense. (Annex 2).

Article 5

Cooperation of the frontier guard agencies in the area of investigating activities related to external border defense shall be carried out by the Parties in accordance with the Protocol on cooperation of frontier guard agencies of the EurAsEC member states in the area of investigating activities related to the EurAsEC member states’ external border defense (Annex 3).

Article 6

Each of the Parties shall grant the aircraft of frontier guard agencies of the other Parties the right to use for the purpose of external border defense its airspace, airports and airfields (landing sites) regardless of their ownership or purpose, and receive navigational, meteorological and other information; each of the Parties shall provide support of flights and technical servicing of aircraft in accordance with bilateral and multilateral treaties between member states of the Eurasian Economic Community.

Article 7

Cooperation of the frontier guard agencies in the area of border protection at the external border checkpoints of member states of the Eurasian Economic Community shall be carried out in accordance with the Protocol on the cooperation of frontier guard agencies in the area of border protection at external border checkpoints of member states of the Eurasian Economic Community (Annex 4).

Article 8

The Parties shall provide mutual assistance in logistic support of the frontier guard agencies, as well as in preparation and placement of orders for manufacturing, adoption and maintenance of weapons, machinery and equipment used for the Parties’ state border protection, in accordance with the Protocol on the cooperation of frontier guard agencies of member states of the Eurasian Economic Community in the area of logistic support of state border protection (Annex 5).

Article 9

Frontier guard agencies of the Parties in accordance with the multilateral and bilateral Agreements shall provide mutual assistance in the area of training, retraining and upgrading the skills of military specialists, including junior specialists of frontier guard agencies of the Eurasian Economic Community member states.

Article 10

Controversial issues related to interpretation and application of this Treaty shall be resolved by the Parties through consultations and negotiations.

Amendments may be made to this Treaty with the Parties’ consent in the form of separate protocols which form an integral part of this Treaty.

Article 11

This Treaty shall enter into force on the date on which the third written notification of the completion of required internal procedures shall be submitted to the depositary, which is the Integration Committee.

Article 12

After entering into force this Treaty will be open for accession by other states that are Parties to the Treaty on the Establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community of October 10, 2000.

For the acceding state the Treaty shall enter into force on the date on which the corresponding written notification of such accession shall be submitted to the depositary.

Article 13

This Treaty shall remain in force for a period of five years from the date it enters into force and shall be automatically extended for a new five-year term.

Each Party shall have the right to withdraw from the Treaty by sending an official notification to the depositary at least six months before the proposed termination date.

Done at Moscow on 21 February 2003, in a single original in the Russian language.

The original of the Treaty shall be deposited with the Integration Committee, which shall transmit a certified copy thereof to each member state of this Agreement.

For the Republic of Belarus                                  A. Lukashenko

For the Republic of Kazakhstan                          N. Nazarbayev

For the Kyrgyz Republic                                      A. Akayev

For the Russian Federation                                 V. Putin

For the Republic of Tajikistan                             E. Rakhmonov