Putin arrives for CIS summit in Kazakh capital

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
15 Sep 04

Astana, 15 September: Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived
in the Kazakh capital of Astana, where he will take part in two
international summits. Today there will be a summit of the heads
of state of the Single Economic Space [SEC] member states (Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan), and tomorrow there will be a forum
of CIS leaders.

Besides, this evening Putin will have a tripartite meeting with
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev. The Kremlin assumes that the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan “must find an agreement between themselves”, but that Russia
“can make its own contribution to the development and strengthening
of dialogue” between Yerevan and Baku.

Putin’s working day in Astana will start with a private meeting with
his SEC counterparts. The presidents will then be joined by other
members of the delegations. After the talks, 29 joint documents will
be signed and a news conference will be held.

The president’s aide, Sergey Prikhodko, told ITAR-TASS that the
agreements which have been prepared for signing “are designed to
create the necessary conditions for deeper economic integration and
a step-by-step advance towards the free movement of goods, services,
capital and workforce within the four countries”. Prikhodko said that
these documents would allow “not only the consdierable liberalization
of reciprocal trade but also creation of the prerequisites for a
future transition to a customs union”.