Ukraine will chair the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in 2014, President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

"Today we decided that Ukraine will chair the CIS in 2014," Yanukovych said at a meeting of the Council of the CIS Heads of State in Minsk on Friday.

"During its presidency, Ukraine will spearhead efforts to ensure the progressive development of the CIS and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation meeting the interests of each state."

Yanukovych said that "the development of trade and economic cooperation, which should be based on the provisions of the agreement on the free trade area and WTO principles, is one of the major priorities of the Ukrainian chairmanship."

"This agreement should start working in full," Yanukovych said.

He said that Ukraine's actions would focus on the creation of conditions to ensure "fair competition and the protection of property rights and investment."

"It's important that the mechanisms for considering controversial issues in trade start working," he said.

He also said it was important to "sign an agreement on transit through pipelines, as well as move towards the gradual cancellation of export duties."

Yanukovych said it was also important to intensify interaction between the CIS countries in the energy sector.

"First and foremost, this concerns the transportation of energy resources and the reliability of their supplies, as well as the development of clear principles of the activity of the states on the energy market," he said.