New Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin voiced his support on Monday for a campaign launched by his predecessor, Yury Luzhkov, to make trade in the capital more "civilized" by closing illegal markets.
"We would like the departments in charge of trade issues... to draw up proposals on how to make the face of trade more civilized," Sobyanin said during a public council meeting dedicated to construction in Moscow.
Luzhkov closed most of Moscow's 80 large clothes markets in a bid to tackle illegal trade in the capital. The city's largest market, Cherkizovsky, notorious for hosting illegal immigrants and selling contraband goods, was closed in July 2009.
Moscow's chief architect, Alexander Kuzmin, said on Monday that the city development plan until 2025 did not envisage the existence of markets and stalls.
It is not clear if the city's weekly food, clothing and furniture markets will also be closed.
MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti)
