CIS agreement on free trade in services to be signed at PM meeting in Sochi in June - CIS secretary general

MINSK. May 30 (Interfax) - An agreement on free trade in services is due to be signed at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Sochi on June 8, CIS Secretary General Sergei Lebedev told reporters on Tuesday.

"The key issue to be discussed by the permanent representatives today is final preparations for the next meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government, which will take place in Sochi on June 8 at Russia's proposal. There will be 15 items on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of Government. All of them are ready to be discussed. Of course, an agreement on free trade in services tops the agenda," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lebedev as saying.

"Experts and high-level representatives of Commonwealth countries have been very active over the past year, and several meetings have been held at the level of economy ministers," he said.

"We very much hope that the agreement on free trade in services will be signed. At least, this is our hope and there are grounds to believe that," Lebedev said.

The prime ministers will discuss trade and economic cooperation in Sochi, Lebedev said. "There will be a number of issues. In particular, a concept of industrial cooperation between CIS countries will be approved. This is a very important matter. The thing is that our economies and manufacturing enterprises are closely interrelated. There are mutual deliveries of component parts and many goods made in the CIS are a product of collective efforts of CIS countries. So, this concept of industrial cooperation between CIS countries is of paramount importance to us," he said.

"A number of personnel issues will also be addressed," Lebedev said.