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President Vladimir Putin: I hope that everyone who was present at the opening of this event today and at the first discussion found it useful and interesting to hear what the participants in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum had to say.

I hope very much that our meeting today will also be devoted to developing the post-Soviet region, above all, through the process of economic integration.

There are also other issues to address, but the President of Kazakhstan, who holds the presidency of the CIS, will speak about them. I want to say that I am very pleased that we have gathered together here in St Petersburg, and I want to assure you that whenever there is a need to meet in Russia, Moscow, St Petersburg and any city in the Russian Federation are always ready to receive our friends from the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Thank you very much.