The heads of state from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed a treaty here Thursday to launch a European Union-style bloc to facilitate the free flow of people, capital and goods within the three countries.

The agreement, inked by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin, will come into force on Jan. 1, 2015.

"Our meeting today of course has a special and, without exaggeration, an epoch-making significance," Putin said at the signing ceremony of the treaty forging the Eurasian Economic Union.

"We are creating a powerful and attractive center of economic development, a major regional market bringing together over 170 million people," he said, adding the pact would allow the three countries to exploit their economic potential and strengthen their positions in global markets.

The alliance is aimed at boosting ties between the three countries, which are already part of a customs union created in 2010 in an effort to build a free trade rival to the 28-nation European Union.

The treaty commits them to guaranteeing the free movement of goods, services, capital and labor, and to implementing coordinated policies in such key sectors as energy, industry, agriculture and transport.

Global Times