President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,
I am delighted to welcome all of you to Moscow for a regular meeting of the CIS Heads of State Council, which Russia is hosting as the current chair of the Commonwealth.
First, I would like to emphasise that cooperation within the CIS is one of the Russian Federation's top foreign policy priorities. The member states of the Commonwealth are our closest neighbours, friends, and strategic partners, and we are naturally committed to strengthening our cooperation across the board.
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This is precisely what the concept of Russia's 2024 chairmanship and the relevant large-scale activity plan aim to achieve. We are grateful to all our colleagues present here for their support and active engagement in their implementation.
We have a packed agenda today. We will certainly pay considerable attention to economic matters and the prospects of the further development of trade and investment cooperation within the CIS.
I am confident that we have abundant possibilities for launching new major and mutually beneficial projects in industry, agriculture, finance and infrastructure.
We will also exchange views on a broad range of other current issues in the CIS, from ensuring our common security to cultural and humanitarian cooperation.
We will discuss concrete measures to expand our partnership in all these spheres.
Last but not least, we will talk about other ways to enhance the efficiency of the Commonwealth and its structures. We will also take a number of organisational decisions.
I hope we will work fruitfully and engage in a traditionally open and trust-based discussion on the current development aspects in the CIS regions and the world as a whole. We will certainly talk about this as well.
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The CIS macroeconomic numbers have noticeably improved, and mutual trade and investment exchanges within the Commonwealth have expanded.
In the first half of the year, the aggregate GDP grew by 4.7 percent, investment in fixed assets rose by 11.2 percent, industrial output was up by 4.3 percent, cargo transport volume increased by 4.9 percent, and retail trade climbed by 8.6 percent. Good numbers, overall.
Through our collaborative efforts, we have built a robust financial infrastructure that is immune to external influences. The use of national currencies in mutual payments has expanded, and their share in commercial transactions within the CIS has exceeded 85 percent and continues to grow.
In addition, import substitution processes are moving fast thus strengthening our country’s technological sovereignty which is critically important considering the challenging global economic and political environment and the unprecedented pressure, particularly in the economy, coming from a number of countries.
Combatting terrorism and extremism, organised crime, drug trafficking, and corruption remains a priority for the CIS collaborative efforts. This work is backed by the well-established operational interaction among our security and law enforcement agencies. In August-September, Uzbekistan successfully hosted the CIS East-Antiterror-2024 exercises.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s suggestion to draft a CIS deradicalisation programme came as a timely initiative. I believe we will adopt the decision to approve this programme today.
Humanitarian ties within the CIS continue to make strides. Partnerships in science, education, culture, and tourism are deepening, with Russia’s chairmanship strongly promoting these efforts. In September, Ufa hosted a large-scale forum that brought together creative and scientific research professionals from the CIS countries.
The CIS Interparliamentary Assembly plays a significant role in promoting cooperation, as can be seen from its most recent productive meeting held in St Petersburg on July 12.
To be continued.