Activities of the countries members of the common economic environment (CES) -- Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine -- may have a positive impact on all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States

Activities of the countries members of the common economic environment (CES) -- Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine -- may have a positive impact on all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, its executive committee chairman Vladimir Rushailo said in the interview carried on Monday by the Ukrainian weekly Biznes (Business). "The CES work will produce a positive effect on the situation in all the members of the Commonwealth", Rushailo said. It would be wrong to say that CIS may lose its significance with the emergence of CES. "Processes of economic rapprochement between the twelve CIS members are hindered by the substantial gap in their scientific-technical and socio-economic development, asynchronous transformation of their economic systems", he said. The GDP average increment in countries of the CIS Commonwealth in 2003 was 6.2 percent, while the economies of the three Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - could not exceed the 4-percent level. "Still, countries of the CIS are not using in full their capabilities for economic growth, relying on the natural and geopolitical factors", Rushailo believes. As the CIS executive secretary said, the growth of "the transport component" impairs competitiveness of CIS products, lowers the volume of investments attracted. "Owing to the increased competition for third-countries' markets, the CIS states are loosing up to 1.5 billion dollars annually", he stressed.