Functional markets of the EAEU: selected case studies

Given the structural specifics of the Eurasian Economic Union and its key integration developments, the focus of this chapter is on the making of its functional markets in agriculture and energy, as well as medical products. Their eventual common nature is stipulated by Article 4 of the Union’s founding Treaty. Facilitating primary sector exchange in the EAEU seems instrumental not only for breaking away from external commodity dependence hindering the emergence of internal manufacturing value chains critical for intense regionalist projects, but also as a switch from decreasing to increasing returns in the bloc’s political economy fundamentals. Eurasian functional markets are likely to benefit their amalgamation in a strategic integration roadmap prioritizing reindustrialization of the bloc as a factor of its development. The advancing dynamics of mutual trade in medical goods since 2015 confirm that the Eurasian industry is well prepared for a new stage of integration based on the positive logic of increasing returns.