ASTANA, September 27, (RIA Novosti) - Integration processes under way in the Common Economic Space, or CES (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan) "are more economic than political", said Russia's Energy and Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, as he replied to a question by RIA Novosti.
Khristenko emphasised, however, that "the economy cannot be advanced without political effort".
The minister noted that the political efforts "taken over the past year and a half led to trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia rising in 2003 to $6.2 billion. This year it is expected to gain another 42 per cent."
"Two years ago we feared that $3.5-4 billion was the level we would stop at," acknowledged Khristenko.
"No doubt economics is the main thing, and the common economic space is aimed precisely at this, but without efforts on the part of our leaders, political ones included, without their will the process could not have been launched," Khristenko concluded.
