Ashgabat - Russia welcomes Uzbekistan's desire to join the CIS free trade agreement and is calling on other CIS countries to assume the same position, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the CIS leaders in the narrow format in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on Wednesday.
“We welcome the desire expressed by the Uzbek leadership to join the
CIS free trade area, and will facilitate this in any way we can. I would
like to urge all our colleagues to assume the same position and back
Uzbekistan,” he said.
Putin said he expected the countries that have not yet made a final
decision on this treaty to make such a decision in the future, and those
who have signed it to ratify it by the end of the year.
“Only two countries are left, that is, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, but
we are maintaining contacts with our colleagues. As far as I
understand, there are purely technical issues there. The work is going
just fine,” Putin said.
Russia welcomes the fact that the development of an agreement on free trade in services has begun.
“This is an idea from our Ukrainian partners. I believe the
implementation of this proposal would be helpful for each state and
would create new opportunities for building efficient economic ties,”
Putin said.
Putin described an agreement on cooperation in establishing an
integrated CIS currency market that should be signed on Wednesday as
another step toward strengthening economic ties between the
member-states.
“Its practical implementation would help us implement our commercial
plans in national currencies, help banks of our countries to efficiently
plan our work, and promote macroeconomic stability in the region,” he
said.
This step would promote more intensive integration efforts within the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space, Putin said.
“We will welcome all countries that express the desire to join these
integration associations and that are ready for this,” he said.
As for a declaration on the CIS comprehensive development, Putin said Russia supports this document as well.
