Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan welcome new partners in the Customs Union, said Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council held here on Thursday.

"Belarus welcomes new partners in the Customs Union as it makes the alliance more stable", Lukashenko said.

He said that potential candidates need to go the same integration way that Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia went and take up all the obligations without any withdrawals.

Concerning Ukraine, the president noted that while moving towards the European Union, the country remains open to the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union in the future.

For his part, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Turkey should be part of the Customs Union. "Turkey is a large country, we have a common border. Critics would be silenced if we do that", he added.

"Everywhere in the West I get asked whether we are creating the Soviet Union or something to suit Russia. And I have to explain that we do nothing of the kind. It is possible that if we let Turkey join, the questions will stop", the Kazakhstan president said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that India has shown interest in signing a free trade agreement with the Customs Union. According to him, in view of the volume and scale of the Indian market, the development prospects of Asia as a whole, the parties must consider this proposal seriously.

The Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia was forged in 2010 as a first step towards forming a broader European Union- type intergovernmental economic mechanism to facilitate free flow of people, capital and goods. Endi

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