CIS Countries Must Step up Cooperation in Defending Their Interests on European Market

Head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Dmitry Rogozin finds it necessary for the CIS countries to step up cooperation in defending their interests on the European market.

The intentional attempts to infringe upon the CIS export cannot be tolerated and must be dealt with, the parliamentarian said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

At the same time, he believes that acting separately the CIS countries can hardly do anything to tackle this problem.

"If we want to improve our cooperation, we must draw up an agenda on the issue concerning the key interests of Azerbaijan, Russia and other CIS countries in dealing with the European structures," Rogozin stressed. Frequently, "some of our European partners tend to think of Azerbaijanians, Ukrainians and Russians as nomads from the wild East without their own history. Meanwhile our history is richer than that of many European countries," Rogozin believes At the same time, there are issues that we must all take into account, including "some conventions and schemes that we must join and adopt." On Tuesday Rogozin discussed the subject at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Geidar Aliyev. The Russian parliamentarian spoke of the need to analyze the reviewed image and development trends of many European organizations, including the European Union. Thus, the CIS countries must take into account the EU integration.

Otherwise, the CIS countries will have to face antidumping towards their producers, unjust oil and gas prices, Rogozin believes. The CIS countries will also have to deal with supply diversification implemented by the EU.

The Azerbaijani President agreed with Rogozin stressing the "need to be ready for anything" and to step up cooperation in this sphere.