On February 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed government Chief of Staff Naryshkin a deputy prime minister in charge of foreign economic activity and relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose association of former Soviet republics.
"First of all, we have a very unbalanced export structure of Russian commodities, which heavily depends on the foreign market situation," Naryshkin said.
Another problem is Russian companies' inadequate participation in international integration and international labor division, he said.
Also, Russia has to bear very high transaction costs in export and import operations linked to insufficiently transparent customs procedures, Naryshkin said.
"That is why, the government's priorities will be aimed at solving these problems," Naryshkin said.
The new deputy prime minister also said the president had instructed him to pay special attention to relations with the CIS member states.
"It is important for us to strengthen integration processes in the CIS, develop and promote the idea and mechanisms of a single economic space," Naryshkin said.
Naryshkin was born in 1954 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).
In 1998 he was appointed the head of the Leningrad regional government committee on foreign economic and international ties.
In 2004, Naryshkin was appointed a deputy head of the Russian president's economic department, and later became a deputy head of the Russian government staff, then chief of staff.
