List of heads of delegations of the CIS member states:

Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Hidayat oglu Asadov;

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan;

Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko;

Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Chairman of the CIS Council of Heads of Government Alikhan Smailov;

Prime Minister and Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov;

Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin;

Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Kohir Rasulzoda;

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkmenistan Hojamyrat Geldimyradov;

Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov;

Chairman of the Executive Committee and Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergei Lebedev.

Remarks by Mikhail Mishustin:

Alikhan Smailov, colleagues,

First of all, I also would like to thank the Kazakhstani side and personally you, Mr Smailov, for the excellent event preparation and the friendly and comfortable atmosphere.

I would like to congratulate Sergei Lebedev on his reappointment and wish him success and good luck.

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a unique international organisation that has stood the test of time and proved its relevance.

As President Vladimir Putin recently noted, speaking at a meeting of the Council of Heads of State here in Astana, the CIS has established itself over three decades as a credible integration association.

We are discussing the most important issues of interaction in all spheres on its platforms today. This format offers our countries ample opportunities for fruitful trade and industrial cooperation, which is especially valuable now against the backdrop of negative global processes.

The world economic system is going through difficult times. The main reason is the desire of the collective West to use protectionist measures and unilateral illegitimate sanctions, including those against Russia and Belarus, in a more and more profound way. But even in these circumstances, cooperation within the Commonwealth continues to develop.

Russia remains a reliable ally and trade partner. We are attentive and respectful of the interests of our closest neighbours.

Last year, our country's trade with the CIS countries increased by more than 30 percent. Exports rose by nearly a quarter to over $65 billion, and imports went up by 25 percent to nearly $32 billion. We see good momentum this year as well.

In the first seven months of 2022, Russian foreign trade with the CIS countries increased by almost six percent.

We also see favourable indicators in the CIS member states’ economies on the whole. This is true for industrial production, freight volumes and investment in fixed capital. 

Yesterday, speaking at a meeting of the Valdai Club, President of Russia Vladimir Putin suggested more actively launching the mechanisms for creating large spaces (entities) that are based on interaction between neighbouring countries with mutually complementary economies, social systems, resources and infrastructure. In effect, these large spaces are the economic foundation of a multi-polar world order.

We are convinced that the CIS economic space has impressive development potential. It is our common priority task to unlock its full potential, with due account for new challenges and processes in the global economy.

We believe that the expeditious completion of talks on a draft agreement on free trade in services and on launching various activities and investment is an important step for enhancing integration. The document aims to protect the rights of investors and the interests of states, and to create a favourable investment climate using the best global practices.   

When signed, the document will give an impetus to economic interaction. It is important to finalise it without delay, while retaining the maximum number of participants.

The events of the past few months have shown that we need to rely on our own capabilities; and, of course, we need to continue and expand mutual business-like contacts and to strengthen our technological independence and financial sovereignty. To achieve this goal, we need to quickly switch to national currencies and renounce the dollar in mutual trade. It is also necessary to introduce our own financial data transmission systems that would not depend on anyone, including Western countries. Yesterday, President of Russia Vladimir Putin noted that this would rule out any abuse in the sphere of the new global financial infrastructure. This would also make it possible to effectively, profitably and safely do without the dollar and other so-called reserve currencies in international transactions, all the more so as the West has weaponised the dollar and largely discredited the concept (institution) of international financial reserves.

Obviously, we need other vantage points for facilitating the stability of energy, economic and budgetary systems.

In Russia, overcoming dependence on imported products is a priority. We are taking measures to support our manufacturers and launch new high-tech and industrial enterprises. And we invite all our partners to join these initiatives and events. Joint projects will expand cooperation as well as transport and logistics links, and will promote the exchange of cutting-edge developments. 

The implementation of the Concept of Scientific, Technical and Technological Cooperation will give a new and additional impetus to interstate contacts in innovation and innovative research, including such important areas as intelligent transport systems, new information transfer mechanisms, robotics, a large number of digital transformation projects and certain special technologies, biotechnology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and much more.

Just yesterday, speaking at the forum, Vladimir Putin reiterated that we are interested in fair, open scientific and technological exchange. Together, everyone stands to gain more than separately.

Colleagues and friends,

Our interaction is not limited to economic issues only. The peoples of the CIS, which includes almost 300 million citizens, are also bound by a common history and shared traditions. We have a common civilisational code and a similar outlook on many contemporary problems. That is why we believe it is very important to expand our intercultural dialogue. 

Our colleagues have talked about this already. At the suggestion of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the next year in the CIS has been declared the Year of the Russian Language as a Language of Interethnic Communication. This idea was supported by Vladimir Putin and other CIS leaders. 

I am absolutely certain that such an initiative will enable us to become closer and form a common economic and cultural space in Eurasia, which will ensure security for all who live on this vast mega-continent. Our President has repeatedly stressed the importance of this goal. 

In conclusion, I would like to thank our Kazakh colleagues for their active, fruitful chairmanship of the Commonwealth once again. And of course, I wish Akylbek Japarov and our Kyrgyz partners, who will take over the chairmanship, every success next year.