The Status and Problems of Economic Relations in the CIS

Since the situation in the region of the Commonwealth of Independent States [CIS] is very dynamic, it is important to keep a constant check on new phenomena and tendencies, the progress of initiatives, and impediments to their implementation. There is also a specific reason for returning to this topic: two years have elapsed since participants in the CIS signed the Treaty on the Creation of the Economic Union (Moscow, September 1993). This document is important in that at the highest level it fundamentally states the intention of following a policy of deepening integration on a market and sovereign basis. The implementation of the Treaty presupposes the sequential, gradual movement of CIS nation-participants from one stage of integration to the next, more complex and higher stage: the free trade zone, the customs union, payments and monetary unions, and a common market for goods, services, labor, and capital.