ASTANA, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - Members of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) plan to speed up the setting up of a customs union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, a Russian deputy economics minister said Friday.
"The terms on establishing the Customs Union will be amended, and its key elements will be introduced from January 2010," Andrei Slepnev said at a session of the council of the CIS prime ministers in Kazakhstan, adding that members plan to draft and sign a new free trade zone agreement by 2011.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Astana Thursday for a meeting of CIS heads of government.
Slepnev said establishing a customs union would be discussed in a week in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Russia and Kazakhstan signed on Thursday a memorandum on creating a customs union during bilateral negotiations in Astana.
"We also agreed on close coordination and communication during negotiations within the WTO framework," he said.
Russia has been negotiating its entry into the World Trade Organization for more than 15 years.
To date, Russia has completed the necessary bilateral negotiations with 60 interested countries, but has yet to coordinate positions on several issues, including agriculture, export duties for timber, and regulation of the activities of some state companies.
Russia is the world's only major economy still outside the WTO. The agreement of all 153 WTO members is necessary for a state to join the body.
Sergei Lebedev, chairman of the CIS executive committee, said Friday the CIS premiers also decided to develop joint measures to prevent the spread of swine flu.
The World Health Organization confirmed in its daily report on Friday 11,168 cases of the virus in 42 countries with 86 deaths.
