Alexander Murychev: The EAEU Remains the Top Priority for Russian Business

Alexander Murychev, Vice President of the RUIE and Chairman of the Board of the FBA EAC, took part in the XVII Assembly of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ICIE), held on October 30, 2026, in St. Petersburg. The main agenda focused on contemporary challenges in the Eurasian economic landscape and current formats of cooperation among business entities.

In his address, Alexander Murychev noted that for the RUIE, the key areas of international cooperation remain trade, logistics, investment, and industrial and financial cooperation. Beyond the ICIE platform, the absolute priorities are the EAEU and the Business 20 (B20). Furthermore, RUIE member companies are actively engaged in multilateral formats such as BRICS, the SCO, APEC, ASEAN, and others.

According to him, the business community's interest is entirely predictable: it requires unified and transparent market rules, clear algorithms for interaction with regulators, and the largest possible market operating under such conditions. This is precisely why Eurasian integration and the EAEU are the top priorities. After all, the EAEU is not limited to its five member states. Trade and economic agreements (both free trade and non-preferential) have been concluded with Vietnam, Indonesia, Iran, China, Mongolia, the UAE, Serbia, and Singapore; agreements with Egypt, India, and Tunisia are currently under negotiation.

These priorities are confirmed by concrete figures: intra-union trade turnover stands at approximately USD 95 billion, while EAEU trade with China is just under USD 300 billion, and with India, it amounts to around USD 70 billion.

Data fr om RUIE surveys also corroborate this trend. Businesses clearly rank associations based on their practical utility and engagement with the current agenda. Entrepreneurs consider interaction within the WTO framework, and especially the European Union, to be the least promising. The WTO's low rating is linked to the crisis within the organization itself and the multilateral trading system as a whole: for businesses, WTO mechanisms are too slow and largely ineffective for the prompt resolution of issues.

Alexander Murychev emphasized that the RUIE possesses a unique asset—the EAEU Business Council. Russian business is already deeply involved in all these processes. The accumulated experience in developing consensus positions, interacting with the supranational regulator, and fostering industrial cooperation is in high demand across other tracks.

Scaling Eurasian practices to BRICS, the G20, the SCO, APEC, and the African Continental Free Trade Area appears highly promising. Differences in the maturity levels of these associations should not be an obstacle. On the contrary, wh ere the EAEU has already navigated "pain points" (such as technical regulation, traceability, and digitalization of transport), ready-made solutions can be offered.

Russia has much to offer: it maintains indisputable competitive positions and is shaping global standards in nuclear and hydropower, hypersonic systems, engine manufacturing, information security, fintech, and space services. The priority is building comprehensive technological chains based on partnerships and cooperation with friendly nations.

Separately, Alexander Murychev underscored the importance of strengthening the sovereign system of payment and settlement instruments and clearing centers. In the EAEU, over 90% of payments are made in national currencies. The share of the ruble in Russian-African commercial transactions reaches 85%, which enhances the resilience of mutual trade and investment.

At the same time, for the RUIE, the future of international trade and economic relations is not limited to Eurasia. Russian companies are proposing major projects to African partners. The RUIE is ready to provide maximum support to both domestic businesses engaged in multilateral cooperation and foreign partners in promoting approaches that deliver economic growth, social stability, and a favorable environment. In other words, what constitutes real, rather than ideologized, sustainability.

The RUIE is a founding member of the ICIE—an international structure established in 1992 that unites national unions and associations of industrialists and entrepreneurs from the CIS countries, several European states, as well as individual companies.