ST. PETERSBURG, October 7. /TASS/. Integration of CIS countries in economic, political and other spheres will be discussed at the CIS summit in Astana next week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday at the informal CIS summit in St. Petersburg.
"We have an opportunity now to compare notes before the annual full-format meeting of the Council of heads of CIS states next week in Astana. The Kazakh presidency puts on its agenda indeed important topics of integrating interaction in the politics, in the economy and in the humanitarian sphere," Putin said.
"A sound package of joint documents" has been prepared for approval, the President said. Leaders will focus on further development of the trade and economic partnership at the current meeting and during the summit in Kazakhstan, Putin noted. "We will think how to invigorate the cooperative effort of increasing stability of all our economies, in particularly through the buildup of bilateral and multilateral cooperative ties and support of the technological sovereignty," the head of state said.
The economic cooperation among CIS countries is steadily expanding, Putin noted. The trade turnover of Russia and CIS member-states gained more than 30% last year to reach $96 bln and had an uptick by 7% more during first six months of this year.