Russia patching up CIS

Russia’s First Vice Premier Igor Shuvalov has stated that the best way to develop CIS member countries is to integrate within the organisation, and that CIS capacity is not limited at all. The Vice Premier highlighted that Russia looks positively at any kind of integration processes in the CIS but today only Belarus and Kazakhstan are taking realistic steps towards such integration.

Shuvalov said that Kyrgyzstan had already applied to enter the Belarus-Kazakhstan-Russia customs union. The next step could be for these countries to introduce one currency. This could be the Russian rouble or anything else agreed.

Shuvalov insists that from a CIS integration point of view the current crisis is a stimulus. “The crisis is even proving profitable because in the last months more has been done from an integration point of view than in the last several years,” Shuvalov stated. The Vice Premier also highlighted that integration within the CIS is not an obstacle to integration with EU structures for any country and it also facilitates the development of an equal partnership with Europe. He also stressed the importance of developing the regional educational system and regulating labour migration.