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From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Oct 10 2000 - 10:22:54 EDT


PUTIN HAILS PLANS FOR EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION

     ASTANA. Oct 10 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin said that
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's proposal to form a Eurasian
union has not lost its importance.
     Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan plans to
sign a treaty transforming their customs union into a Eurasian Economic
Union.
     Speaking at the Lev Gumilev University in the Kazakh capital on
Tuesday, Putin said the countries of the region must fight terrorism,
the drugs and arms trade, as well as aggressive nationalism. The states
of the region could bolster their security within the framework of the
collective security pact, which "is of an open nature and is not aimed
at creating any kind of bloc," he said.


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