Premier Kasyanov: Russia Plays Key Role In CIS

At its Thursday session, the Russian government intends to sum up the CIS development over the past decade, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said opening a Cabinet session. He indicated that "Russia is playing a key role in the Commonwealth of Independent States." Over the past years, despite internal problems, Russia has rendered assistance to practically all CIS countries. The Prime Minister stressed that today, when the CIS countries were seeing economic growth and better living standards, new problems, especially those related to security in the CIS, were emerging. "This is the most important aspect, and a number of structures involved in security provision have already been formed," the Russian head of the Cabinet of Ministers said. At the same time, he stressed that economy was "the basis" for CIS cooperation, while its potential should be used more efficiently.