New CIS development concept to focus on economy

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The new revision of the concept on the future development of the Commonwealth of Independent States will focus on economic affairs, BelTA learned from Andrei Grozov, Russia's permanent representative in the CIS charter bodies and other ones.

The decision to update the CIS development concept was made at a session of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council in Minsk in April 2018. While key clauses of the concept will be left intact, a number of chapters need to be updated, representatives of the CIS member states believe. Since new integration associations with more advanced integration forms have emerged in the CIS space, the concept needs to be updated to prevent additional hindrances and barriers standing in the way of economic cooperation between member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the other integration associations. New spheres and fields of cooperation such as digital economy and digital trade need to be reflected in the new concept, too, believes Andrei Grozov.

The CIS future development concept was adopted in October 2007. "It's been more than ten years since then. It is time to update the document to match the modern reality of development of multilateral interaction in the CIS," stressed the Russian representative.