OREANDA-NEWS. March 11, 2010. The reinforcement of integration processes and financial institutions as well as the joint transition to an innovative economy were the central topics of the CIS International Economic Forum hosted by Moscow. About 500 delegates from all CIS states took part into the forum. There were deputy prime ministers, MPs, diplomats, businessmen and bankers among the forum participants.

Yevgeny Primakov, president, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia:

- Involving small and mid-sized businesses in innovation processes is said to be one of the most important tasks. Another package of measures should be addressed at an integration level at the same time. First of all, it’s necessary to create a well-managed legal basis of innovative activity.

Yevgeny Primakov believes that the establishment of a common CIS innovation center is a task to be fulfilled in the short term. It is already clear that a data bank on all the knowledge intensive industries and technology transfer are required now. And a kind of “supermarket” of technologies of the CIS countries inspired by both European and American experience may appear as a result.

Arken Arystanov, chairman, Kazakhstan Agency on Regulation of Activities of Regional Financial Centre of Almaty:

- The financial sector is the most innovative one as new products are being developed all the time. It is necessary to strike the right balance here in order to avoid a speculative boom. At the same time we have to find mutually complementary opportunities for attracting investments.

The issues of modernization of cash and settlement transactions were discussed as well as effective implementation of joint business projects must be prompt and transparent.