The President instructed the Ministers to return to the issue of rehabilitating the Chechen economy and paying compensations for destroyed housing. The rebuilding of the housing ruined by war should not be stopped after the referendum on the draft Chechen Constitution and bills on the presidential and parliamentary elections. The region’s problems are large-scale, and therefore the Government should work out a long-term plan for the development of the Chechen economy.
Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko told the President about the work of a group of experts from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan aimed at forming a Common Economic Space. The four countries’ leaders achieved a general agreement to create a single economic space at their meeting in Moscow on February 23, 2003. According to the Minister, the work was under way and experts should submit the draft final agreement by July 1.