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It is not so easy to create
I am greatly pleased to greet the participants of the forthcoming representative forum in St.Petersburg, which is being organized by the Inter-Parliament Assembly of the states of the CIS. Undoubtedly, it is an important stage of the broad independent discussion of economic and geopolitical development of the CIS countries, of their role and place in the world’s economy, of their opportunities to create markets and establish direct economic links with international structures. The role of the St.Petersburg economic forum is extremely great, because economic collaboration is the most essential part of the development of the integration processes. As representatives of the legislative branch of power, we have to develop and unify a legal base for the interactions of CIS countries. The task to create this foundation turned out to be a difficult one. That is why we are quite ready to participate in such a representative meeting like this economic forum. We can argue, exchange information, compare our solutions and, also very important, hear the opinion of the people from business circles and international organizations there. After declaring their independence, CIS countries have achieved a number of important successes in developing their national and cultural identity and in accelerating their road to democracy. A legal base for our largest inter-regional organization has been created, the clear political interests of each country have been defined. The CIS countries have built relationships with each other and with the world community, being already subjects of international politics. Although all CIS countries have been in a difficult state of transition from a command planning system to a free market economy, we have made our first steps and advanced on our way. During that time we have begun to understand the inevitability of mutual connections, at least in the near future. The ideas of closing in are gaining more support from the general public which usually associates the time of establishing independence with deep economic crisis and the sudden sharpening of social problems. The interaction of the CIS countries is becoming more constructive; we have worked out ways to gradually eliminate major obstacles for commercial and economic collaboration, such as tariff and non-tariff barriers, non-payments between economic subjects, and created a multilateral agreement for creating a free trade zone and establishing Customs and Payment unions. The international economic committee and Interparliament Assembly of CIS states play a certain organizing role. The activities of the Inter-Parliament Committee of the Republic of Bielorus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kirgiz Republic and Russian Federation are also directed towards the intensification of economic connections. One can assert today that although the integration processes are developing in a difficult and sometimes controversial way, the general movement, the gradual prevailing in the CIS states of the tendencies of closing in is an objective and natural process. The cultural and historical community that has been formed and the interdependence of the economies of our countries as of CIS states provides an incentive for our further collaboration and the modern international development and environment give us more momentum toward our common goals. I am sure that the economic forum in St.Petersburg will contribute to that.
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