Around 50 countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America have demonstrated interest in cooperating with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday, May 15, according to Sputnik.

"The EAEU is steadily expanding its foreign ties. Some 50 European, Asian and Latin American states showed interest to cooperation with it," Putin told a roundtable meeting during the second day of the international forum One Belt, One Road in Beijing.

The EAEU and China are in talks to determine an agreement on trade and economic cooperation, Putin noted, adding that the economic bloc was also discussing a free trade deal with Israel. Putin went on to say that EAEU had agreed to launch consultations with Egypt, Iran, India, Serbia and Singapore.

At the meeting, the Russian leader also recalled a decision adopted in 2015, in which integration processes of both the Eurasian Economic Union and China's new Silk Road Economic Belt project were combined.

The Eurasian Economic Union is aimed at developing intraregional economic ties and establishing the free flow of goods among its members: Armenia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus.