First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov presided over a joint meeting between the Government Commission on Economic Integration and the Government Commission on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Representatives of the two commissions discussed the formation of a common economic space (CES) between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as the effect the CES and newly-formed Customs Union between the three countries would have on Russia's joining the WTO and the OECD. They also reviewed the economic agenda for the Russian presidency of the CIS next year.

While taking into account the decisions made by the Russian, Belarusian and Kazakh heads of government at the meeting of the Customs Union's Supreme Council in St. Petersburg on December 11, 2009, representatives from the two commissions also elaborated the plan for the formation of the CES, which will be endorsed at the meeting between the heads of state on the Customs Union in Alma Ata on December 19 of this year.

The federal bodies under the executive branch were given concrete instructions on forming the CES, intensifying talks on Russia's admission to the WTO and the OESD, and submitting proposals for the economic agenda of Russia's CIS presidency.