MOSCOW, January 4 (RIA Novosti, Andrei Malyshkin) - The last year proved the viability of such organizations as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Community (Eurasec), a Russian diplomat said Wednesday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview that the key event in the format of twelve former Soviet republics in 2005 was the CIS summit in Kazan August 26, where the leaders of the organization's member states stressed the necessity to work out a new concept and model of integration and develop the CIS, "whose potential is far from being exhausted."
The diplomat also mentioned a regular session of the Eurasec interstate council at the level of heads of state in Moscow June 22, where important decisions on stepping up interstate cooperation in the economic and financial sectors had been made.
He said the organization approved a concept of monetary cooperation, a procedure to coordinate main macroeconomic measures of member states and other documents.
Besides, Eurasec members made a strategically important decision on a single customs tariff necessary for the creation of a Eurasec customs union and set up a council for Eurasec's financial and economic policy, which is to help build up a common market, at a session in Dushanbe September 27.
Founded in May 2001 by Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, Eurasec sought to create a full-scale customs union and common economic space, cooperate in efforts to join the World Trade Organization, harmonize customs tariffs and develop common border security guidelines.
