President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on 16 April that he is pleased with the progress made to date on a draft agreement to create a \"unified economic zone\" encompassing Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia. During a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko, who heads the working group on the unification of trade and tariff legislation, Putin said that, \"despite a number of setbacks,\" the group\'s work is moving forward and the four countries should be able to enter the World Trade Organization as \"a single economic space.\" The other members of the working group – Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Karim Maksimov, and Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakou -- also attended the meeting with Putin. Analysts believe that the proposal to combine the four countries -- with a total population of 219 million people -- is the most ambitious Kremlin initiative since the collapse of the Soviet Union and could lead to the creation of a new regional entity. (strana.ru)