The CIS member states held inter-ministerial consultations on mutual cooperation within the Commonwealth in 2022. The meeting was held in Minsk. Delegates from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the Russian and Moldovan foreign ministries, as well as representatives of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth became participants in the meeting.
The meeting focused on opportunities for expanding mutual cooperation in economic, foreign policy and humanitarian areas, as well as in security and countering new threats and challenges. Delegates of the foreign policy agencies noted the effectiveness of Belarus' chairmanship in the CIS last year. They also emphasized the readiness to fully support Kazakhstan's presidency in the Commonwealth of Independent States this year in order to achieve all the set goals.
Participants in the meeting reaffirmed their common aspiration for progressive progress in multilevel interaction in the Commonwealth format. It was noted that at the moment there are a number of threats that negatively affect the security situation in the CIS. The Afghan situation is one of them. In this regard the parties agreed to continue to hold consultations between the CIS countries on security issues.
The important role of the CIS Observer Mission in presidential and parliamentary elections and referendums in CIS countries was emphasized. In particular, First Deputy Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Leonid Anfimov announced the beginning of formation of the mission that will observe the upcoming presidential election in Turkmenistan. The deputy chairman expressed his confidence that he would soon receive an invitation to observe the will of the Turkmen people, because the Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan had previously announced that not only domestic observers but also interstate experts would be allowed to monitor the elections.
Representatives of the foreign ministries also discussed issues related to the completion of work on the draft Agreement on Free Trade in Services, the launch of the CIS Commission on Human Rights and approval of the procedure for systematic meetings of the Ombudsmen of the Commonwealth member states.
During the meeting, the results of the implementation in 2021 of the Plan of multifaceted interagency consultations and the Program of Actions aimed at intensifying the interaction between the ministries and agencies were summed up. A list of other issues was also considered.
Source and photo: turkmenistan.gov.tm
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