VLADIVOSTOK, September 7 (Itar-Tass) — Russia plans to shift the emphasis in its foreign trade for the Asia-Pacific Region, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told the APEC business summit on Friday.
“Presiding over APEC we launch a new trend – we need to shift the emphasis without curtailing traditional economic relations, we need to significantly accelerate towards integration and cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Region,” he said.
“We would like this vector to be so strong within the upcoming 5-10 years for the statistics figures to demonstrate that our bilateral trade is higher with this region than with Europe,” Shuvalov said.
Speaking about integration processes with European partners he noted that as a result a common economic space should be created between the European Union on the one hand and the Eurasian Economic Space on the other hand.
“There are two single economic spaces – the Customs Union and the European Union, but a common economic space, i.e. the unity of norms that form an economic environment between bodies independent from each other, should be created between them,” he said.
Shuvalov also recalled that the common economic space between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan should enter a new integration level by 2015 – the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union.
“By 2015 we plan to sign a new codifying document that will unify all fundamental agreements and by January 1, 2015, we plan to create a full-fledged economic union on this vast territorial space,” he said.