Russia to welcome other CIS states in Customs Union - speaker
MOSCOW. January 5. KAZINFORM Russia will welcome it if other CIS states join the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the speaker of the Russian State Duma lower house of parliament said on Monday commenting on the launch of a new regional agency; Kazinform has learnt from Itar-Tass.
"The start of real activity of the Customs Union in 2010 is the most visible and real step towards the integration of our countries," Boris Gryzlov stressed, expressing confidence that "it is advantageous for Russia as well as for its partners".
"The planned elimination of 'internal economic borders' between our states, a free flow of goods will substantially simplify the setting up of cooperation chains," he continued.
"Competition will grow and this the quality of production and demand for innovations will also grow," Gryzlov said. "And finally the emergence of the Customs Union, in essence a common market with 170 million consumers - will directly motivate investments in the setting up of new and modernization of existing productions," the speaker believes; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
See www.itar-tass.com for full version.