ASHGABAT, October 11. /TASS/. Creation of a single financial market within the CIS in the future would boost the competitiveness of the CIS countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS on Friday.

He stressed the importance of settlements in national currencies between the countries of the Commonwealth amid the ongoing global problems such as trade wars and various restrictions.

"We must safeguard ourselves from currency risks, we need to foster cooperation in the currency sphere and coordinate currency policy. Once we manage to do this, we will be able to talk about the formation of a single financial market. I’m sure our overall competitiveness will benefit from this", the Russian leader stated.

Putin noted that last year, the total foreign trade of the CIS countries grew by more than 17% and exceeded $1 trillion, while trade between the countries of the Commonwealth amounted to $190 bln. "This shows that our cooperation within the CIS does not interfere with, but even helps us develop relations with third countries," the Russian president concluded.

The Russian leader stressed the importance of the Declaration on Strategic Economic Cooperation of the CIS Countries that will be signed at the summit later on Friday. According to him, this document envisages measures to encourage relations between enterprises, implement sector cooperation and advance high technologies, joint transport infrastructure and telecommunication networks, as well as to ensure innovative development of the energy sector.