Azernews.Az

YALTA - The leaders of the six member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), who gathered in the Crimean resort city of Yalta on Saturday, announced that they would continue working on an agreement to establish a common CIS market.
The presidents said they had reached a decision to continue working on new agreement about a common market that would facilitate trade in the post-Soviet region.
The CIS, a loose association of post-Soviet countries, include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
The informal CIS summit took place in the Livadia Palace, outside Yalta. The location is peculiar since the Livadia Palace is known for the legendary Yalta conference in 1945, where the leaders of anti-Hitler coalition established a bipolar world order that remained unchanged for 50 years.
Opening the summit, the Ukrainian leader called on the presidents to discuss ways to step up economic cooperation among CIS member states, as well as to mull the implementation of the ongoing joint projects in transport and tourism.
The presidents decided to continue working on a new agreement to establish a free trade zone and include the issue into the agenda of the next CIS summit, AzerTAj reports.
The CIS leaders also decided to boost cooperation in the humanitarian area.