Russia-led bloc CIS urges intl community to resist global monopolies jointly

In his speech to the heads of CIS governments, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that international monopolies were imposing their conditions upon entire international markets.  This was hurting the interests of independent companies and whole industries in CIS countries through cartel agreements and price regulation, the PM said. In particular, the cartel agreements lead to inflated consumer prices, he noted.

“We see the activities of international cartels as a threat to our economies, or to put it precisely – a threat to the industries and enterprises that are working on the territories of the CIS member-states,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

The Russian PM listed such industries as the production of food, pharmaceuticals and certain car parts as examples of sectors where global monopolies were manipulating the whole international market. “Ultimately, it is ordinary people who have to pay extra because of the cartel agreements between producers from various countries,” he noted.

As a result, the conference of prime ministers of CIS nations developed and approved an address to various nations and international organizations, including the UN and the WTO, in which they asked for coordinated resistance of the global monopolies and the prevention of international cartel agreements.

“Of course, this process is complicated and it is impossible to stop the cartels’ activities within the framework of just one address. However, our effort, combined with the efforts of other nations, inside and outside the CIS bloc, should eventually affect the situation. This is the reason behind today’s decision,” PM Medvedev said.

At the same meeting, Prime Ministers of the CIS nations also signed an agreement on the exchange of information in the counter-terrorist sector and on measures to fight the sponsorship of terrorists and extremists.

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a voluntary economic and political union of several former Soviet republics. Formed in 1991, currently the bloc consists of nine fully-pledged members and two associate members.