CIS CUSTOMS UNION SET TO EXPAND.

Belarus’s Ivan Karachenya, who serves as CIS executive secretary, is predicting that the January 19 CIS summit in Moscow will result in three new states — Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — joining the CIS Customs Union. The Union presently consists of Russian, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. (3) Earlier hopes that Ukraine would soon join the organization union appear to be premature.

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