Modern Europe - Commonwealth of Independent States

Commonwealth of Independent States

See also: Post-Soviet states#Regional organizations

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose organization in which most former Soviet republics participate. A visa-free regime operates among members and a free-trade area is planned for the beginning of 2011. Ukraine is not an official member, but does participate in the organization. Some members are more integrated than others, for example Russia and Belarus form a Union State. In 2010 Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan formed a customs union and a single market (Common Economic Space) is scheduled to commence on 1 January 2012. The Presidents of Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan plan to create a Eurasian Union with a Eurasian Commission in 2015. A common currency is also planned, potentially to be named "evraz". Some other countries in the region are potential members of these organizations.

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Famous quotes containing the words commonwealth of, commonwealth, independent and/or states:

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    —Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)

    “[My father] was a lazy man. It was the days of independent incomes, and if you had an independent income you didn’t work. You weren’t expected to. I strongly suspect that my father would not have been particularly good at working anyway. He left our house in Torquay every morning and went to his club. He returned, in a cab, for lunch, and in the afternoon went back to the club, played whist all afternoon, and returned to the house in time to dress for dinner.”
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    “It may be said that the elegant Swann’s simplicity was but another, more refined form of vanity and that, like other Israelites, my parents’ old friend could present, one by one, the succession of states through which had passed his race, from the most naive snobbishness to the worst coarseness to the finest politeness.”
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