Russia creates new economic bloc

The Age

Monday December 21, 2009

RUSSIA, Belarus and Kazakhstan have decided to create a single economic area by 2012, after they set up a customs union due to be implemented next year.The three countries have until July 1, 2011, to prepare documentation for the project, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told state television channel Vesti-24 yesterday. The single economic area is expected to come into effect on January 1, 2012, Mr Shuvalov said.He was speaking from Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a meeting.

© 2009 The Age

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