NOVO-OGAREVO, May 15 (RIA Novosti) - The forthcoming summit of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian and Kazakh leaders in Yalta will end the first stage of the common economic space formation, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov also took part in the meeting.
"We shall continue working on the formation of a free trade zone on this basis," Vladimir Putin added.
The Russian government intends to solve all problems in Russian-Ukrainian trade and economic relations, first of all, barriers and obstacles to mutual access of goods to our countries' markets, he noted.
"We have achieved certain progress in this sphere," the president said.
There will be some expenses but the formation of the common economic space and trade turnover growth will recompense them, Mr. Putin said.
The Russian-Ukrainian trade turnover grew by 35 percent in the first quarter of 2004, the Russian leader added.
