MOSCOW, January 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Integration agencies in which Russia participates are open for other countries, first of all countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a major news conference reviewing the results of 2013.

“As you know, our integration structures are open for other partners as well, including first of all participants of the CIS free trade zone,” he said. Seizing the occasion, the foreign minister wished success to Ukraine, which holds the rotating CIS presidency in 2014. “We support the program formulated by the Ukrainian leadership for its Commonwealth chairmanship,” he added.

Lavrov reminded the audience that starting from 2013 Russia had been chairman of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. “Our chairmanship program is aimed at making that agency more efficient, including in the sphere of reacting to common threats and challenges, including those coming from Afghanistan taking into consideration the so-called factor of 2014 (an allusion to the upcoming withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan),” he added.