Further liberalization of trade and investment as well as facilitation of regional integration will be on the agenda during Russia’s chairmanship at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in an article published on Kremlin’s website on Saturday.

Russia has taken over the rotating chair of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in 2012 and will host this year’s APEC Leaders’ Week in Vladivostok.

“Now that Russia has joined the World Trade Organisation, the country’s representatives will be able to fully participate in trade liberalization discussions. A consolidated position among APEC member economies should jumpstart multilateral trade talks and make them more constructive,” Medvedev’s article “Integrate to Grow, Innovate to Prosper” said in English.

Following its accession to the WTO, Russia is ready to sign free trade agreements with APEC countries while acting jointly with Kazakhstan and Belarus within the Customs Union, Medvedev continued.

This kind of partnership “could pave the way to a fundamentally new form of APEC integration and help expand the Asia-Pacific market to the whole of the Eurasian continent,” the Russian president went on.

Russia is ready to offer its transport corridors that provide the shortest routes between Asia and Europe, he added.