Trade in the CIS Region: Conditions for Further Production Cooperation

The article deals with the trade in the CIS region and in the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The methodology of the analysis is based on the UN Classification by Broad Economic Categories (1971) and B. Balassa model for detecting competitive advantages. The authors conclude that the CIS countries are interested in further integration in the post-Soviet area. The regional CIS market plays a greater role for semi-manufactured and final goods producers from the former Soviet republics. But the dynamics of the whole export shows that the CIS economies get more and more oriented on external markets in the sphere of primary goods.