Speaking at the CIS International Economic Forum, the first deputy prime minister said, "The Russian government believes in the future of the CIS and is sure it cannot be substituted by other instruments." According to Igor Shuvalov, integration within the CIS has been uneven. "In terms of our global principles and interests, it is an important priority for Russia," the first deputy prime minister stressed.
According to Igor Shuvalov, the time has come "to critically look at what we have managed to do and think how to make cooperation more effective in the future." He also said that an agreement on a free trade zone within the CIS is now being prepared. The first deputy prime minister expressed hope that this document could be coordinated and signed by the end of 2012.
Igor Shuvalov added that all the stages for establishing the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have been fully coordinated and the whole system will start functioning on July 1, 2011. And the common economic space for the Customs Union members will start functioning on January 1, 2012.
The first deputy prime minister also reminded that at the Interstate Council heads of government decided to start elaborating a common regulatory system within the Customs Union at a meeting in Minsk on March 15. He said this work would begin in April 2011 and the corresponding legal documents would go into effect on January 1, 2012.
"In order to cooperate more closely in the economic sphere in the future, we must understand that we have issues to be regulated jointly by our main economic institutions and agree that we should establish such cooperation in areas where we still do not have it," the first deputy prime minister stressed.