Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have joined to form the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which is schedule to come to existence on January 1.

The new union will bring together some 170 million people and produce a combined economic output of USD 4.5 trillion, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed on Tuesday.

The EEU will help coordinate member states’ financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies as well as labor markets and transportation networks.

Other countries that are aiming to join the EEU include the former Soviet states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Experts say the EEU marks another sign of the paradigm shift in the global economy and international relations.

Work on the treaty started in November 2011 at the first summit on the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, when the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan adopted a declaration on the Eurasian economic integration, which became a road map for the development of integration cooperation