OREANDA-NEWS. July 12, 2011. Vladimir Putin’s address:

First of all, I would like to thank our Kazakh friends for creating excellent conditions for our work. We are in the centre of Moscow, but the hotel where we are meeting belongs to Kazakhstan and I can see that it is doing very well.

This business forum of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan was timed to coincide with a momentous date – the formation of the common customs space, the common customs territory which was completed on July 1. Customs offices on the borders between our three states have been removed. This is not just a formal lifting of administrative procedures. For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union the first real step has been made towards restoring the natural economic and trade ties in the post-Soviet space. I congratulate you all. Qualitatively new conditions have been created for doing business in our countries. Incidentally, trade between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus has grown by 43% during the first four months of this year, a remarkable indicator even for the period of post-crisis recovery. A very good indicator.

As a result of the lifting of the barriers that formerly hindered mutual trade there is a large and growing common market with more than 165 million potential customers. Of course, this creates very good conditions for any business (business in the three countries and for business from other countries), conditions that will provide an outlet for our efforts, capital and talent. It is important that the rules of the game for economic agents have become more stable and predictable. Moreover, as many of you know, when we were establishing all these procedures, we in fact were creating the legal framework for the Customs Union and the future common economic space.