"The top-priority goal in this direction is the shaping of the contractual law base and start of work towards the free movement of goods and services without exemptions and limitations", Russian Prime Minister Fradkov said, presenting the average-term work guidelines of the cabinet at its Thursday sitting.
"A CEE common tariff is to be formed preventing special protective measures, antidumping procedures and compensation steps", he added.
The Russian government, he said, hopes for the earliest introduction of the Russian rouble as the only legal tender for the Russia-Belarus Union, as well as the elimination of barriers on the markets of the CIS countries, creation of an efficient system of payments, greater competitiveness of the Commonwealth products.
The government's foreign-policy priorities are to be not only cooperation with countries of the CIS but also the expansion of contacts with the European Union, the United States, China, India and Japan, Prime Minister Fradkov said.
"The government attaches a special importance to the broadening of cooperation with the European Union on the basis of mutually beneficial partnership, while preserving Russia's traditional transport flows", he stressed.
To him, the cabinet's priority is the minimisation of Russia's losses from the EU expansion, increased supply of energy resources, conclusion of a special agreement on the Kaliningrad cargo transit (the Kaliningrad region is Russia's enclave on the Baltic sea).
"It is also important for us to join the World Trade Organisation. This is why the WTO-joining talks are to be completed before the end of 2004", Fradkov stressed.
He also noted the need of attracting a large volume of Western investments in the Russian economy, as well as the observance of interests of Russian companies abroad.
