1990s. Kyrgyzstan has the highest trading level, with its exports to Kazakhstan accounting
for 17.3 percent of its total export value in 2010; Tajikistan has the lowest, with its
exports to Kyrgyzstan taking up merely 0.2 percent of its total export value in 2010.
Export volumes from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan and from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan grew between 2001 and 2010; however, other bilateral trade
drastically dropped as economic integration kept deepening. The main reason that Russia
and Kazakhstan became the major export destinations of other EurAsEC members is
the economic scale effect of the two countries rather than improved integration. Russia’s
and Kazakhstan’s exports to other EurAsEC members did not grow with the deepening
of integration but even dramatically dropped for some countries. For example, Kazakhstan’s
and Russia’s exports to each other dropped from 20.4 percent and 2.8 percent in
2001 to 5.3 percent and 0.3 percent in 2010, which further suggests that EurAsEC has
not promoted Central Asian regional economic integration.