The global economic and financial situation remains difficult, with the consequences of the global financial crisis still persisting, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Sputnik and the IANS news agency.
"It is therefore regrettable that certain countries seek to solve the problems that have built up by introducing protectionist measures and trying to engage in restricted non-transparent projects, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership," Putin said.
"Russia and its BRICS partners remained committed to shaping open non-discriminatory economic areas based on the principles of the World Trade Organization," Sputnik cited him as saying.
"In this context, we also proposed that work on establishing the Eurasian Economic Union should be integrated with that on the Silk Road Economic Belt. This process could eventually provide a basis for the Big Eurasian Partnership that would involve a wide range of states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the SCO, and ASEAN," Putin said.
The Russian president added that he expected that such partnership would be open for accession by all countries concerned and would be built on the principles of transparency and mutual respect.
"The BRICS cooperation potential may also be used to implement this initiative. We look forward to the support from India, which is earnestly interested in this proposal," he added.
The Russian president will come to India for the BRICS summit due to be held on October 15-16 in Goa. He will also attend the India–Russia Forum on Trade and Investment with participation of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The issues relating to the strengthening of international security and stability, as well as enhancing the competitiveness of BRICS economies, the situation in Syria and the promotion of international development will be discussed in Goa.
