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CIS countries to allocate $190 million to finance 11 pilot innovation projects in 2014

MINSK, May 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Governments of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will allocate $190 million to finance 11 pilot innovation projects in 2014, Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said on Friday after a meeting of the CIS heads of government.

“It was decided that the governments of the CIS states will carry out necessary procedures to finance 11 pilot innovation projects we approved a year ago in Minsk,” he said, adding that the overall cost of these projects was estimated at $190 million. “These projects open up a big perspective and demonstrate the CIS countries’ commitment to expand cooperation,” he noted.

These projects “must grow into modern competitive transnational corporations. Little has been done as of yet in this direction in the CIS,” Myasnikovich said, adding that CIS countries were determined to promote innovations.

Myasnikovich also said that the CIS heads of government had also discussed “such milestone event as the signing in Astana of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty.” “Having united into this union, the three its member countries (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) have become more influential in the world and this fact should be used for advantage,” he said. This treaty, in his words, was a proof of the principle of different formats of integration in the post-Soviet space. “The Commonwealth of Independent State has to a certain extent facilitated the signing of this powerful international treaty,” he stressed.

The Belarusian prime minister also noted that today’s meeting had demonstrated that each of the CIS countries had certain advantages from its CIS membership. “As for further efforts to improve the work, it will depend on the CIS countries themselves,” he said, adding that on Friday the CIS prime ministers had discussed 23 documents and signed six international agreements.