(ANSA) - MOSCOW - The Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and the presidents of Kazakhstan and Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev, have signed in Astana the treaty for the foundation of the Eurasian Union, which since January 1, 2015 will create a single economic space involving these three countries.

''The three states are committed to ensuring the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour, to put in place a concerted policy in some key sectors of the economy: energy, industry, agriculture, transport'', the Kremlin informs.

According to Russian Presidency, the new Eurasian Union leads to ''the creation of a common market in this important area of the CIS (Community of Independent States) that will become a powerful new driver of economic development'', with 170 million inhabitants and a GDP totalling 2.7 trillion dlr.

For Russia, the existing Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan represents the third most important market after Europe and China; in the past 3 years, trade increased by 50 % (+23 bn dlr ), for a total amount of 66.2 bln dlr. The Eurasian Union is the main Euro-asian geo- political project of Putin's third presidential term, which aims to integrate the former USSR into a single economic zone that can cooperate and compete with the EU,the US and China. (ANSA).