High Level Group to discuss Common Economic Space documents for September summit

The 13th session of the High Level Group on forming a Common Economic Space (CES) in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine will meet on June 24 in Moscow. It "will be an important stage in the preparations for a regular meeting of the heads of the member-states of the CES Agreement. The session will take place in Astana in September," official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

"In accordance with the agreements reached at the Yalta [Ukraine] summit of the Four Countries on May 23-24, 2004, it is planned to first discuss the list of agreements on the CES that have to be signed and then listen to reports from representatives of the states about the process of the negotiations on joining the World Trade Organization," he said.

According to him, it has also been planned to adopt a number of documents that ensure the functioning of the economic space organizing group. The group will coordinate work on formulating a normative and legal base for the space.

The Russian delegation at the session will be headed by Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko.

Mr. Yakovenko noted that "after signing the agreement on forming the Common Economic Space on September 19, 2003, the leaders of the four countries agreed to create a qualitatively new regional integration structure that would unite the customs territories of the member-countries. This will ensured a freedom of movement for goods, services, capital and the workforce and will follow a common foreign trade and an agreed upon tax, monetary and credit and currency and financial policy.

"After almost simultaneous ratification by the parliaments of the four countries, the document came into force on May 20, 2004," Mr. Yakovenko noted.