Russia intends to preserve the succession of work of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2012, after the country assumes the rotating chair in the organization, the Russian president said.
“Our country intends to preserve the succession of the forum’s work, including in the formation of the free and open trade zone in the Asia-Pacific region,” President Dmitry Medvedev said.
Russia will for the first time host an APEC summit in the Far East in September 2012. APEC finance ministers will meet in Moscow next year.
“We are ready to demonstrate intellectual, technological and resources-related potential of our country, to conclude joint projects on modernization and to show perspectives related to the formation of the common economic space of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus,” he said.
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia formed the Customs Union earlier this year, scrapping interstate customs tariffs.
Medvedev currently takes part in the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, held in the United States, in the Hawaiian capital of Honolulu, on November 12-13.