On the Session of the CIS Foreign Ministers’ Council

09 October 2014

09-10-2014

On October 9, 2014 the regular session of the CIS Foreign Ministers’ Council took place in Minsk. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of all states, with the exception of Ukraine, which was presented by the Ambassador to Belarus Mr.Mikhail Yezhel.

This meeting was the first in a series of integration events that are to be held in Minsk on 9 and 10 October this year.

During the meeting the participants discussed 24 agenda items.

One of the most important documents was draft address of the CIS Heads of State to the nations of the Commonwealth and the international community in connection with the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The adoption of this document will help to attract additional international attention to the above mentioned events, as well as to express the opinion of the CIS members on the inadmissibility of distortion of the assessments of the outcomes of war and whitewashing of Nazism.

Within the meeting the participants considered the implementation of the plan of action on the realization of the basic concept of further development of the CIS. The participants came to the conclusion that this document has had a positive impact on the strengthening of integration processes in the CIS area.

In accordance with the Plan the highest CIS bodies adopted more than 70 working and program documents that specify the work on achieving the goals set by the heads of states in this Concept.

A big block of issues was devoted to humanitarian cooperation. Fundamental document in this area is the draft plan of priority actions in the field of humanitarian cooperation of the CIS member states for 2015-2016 years, which provides for holding of about 200 events in such spheres as education, culture, science, information and mass communications, publishing and book distribution, printing, sports, tourism, youth cooperation. A large section of the draft Plan is dedicated to the events within the Year of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

The participants of the meeting approved the draft Plan of Action for 2015-2017 years for the implementation of the strategy of cooperation development in the field of tourism for the period up to 2020. The document provides for measures to improve the legislation in the field of tourism, the development of security systems, harmonization of standards of tourist services, the development of appropriate infrastructure in the CIS area, promotion of tourist products in the Commonwealth and the international market.

In accordance with the tradition of granting institutions of higher education and research establishments the status of the CIS basic organizations the heads of delegations agreed to give the status to five institutions in such spheres as the preservation of written heritage, musical and theatrical business, education in the field of cinema, art and culture. It was proposed to give the status of the base institution of the museum business to the history and culture museum-reserve “Niasvizh”.

The participants supported the draft resolution on the implementation in 2015 of the Interstate program “cultural capital of the Commonwealth”, according to which Voronezh (Russia) and Kulob (Tajikistan) will become cultural capitals of the CIS next year.

Considerable attention was paid to security issues in the framework of the CIS. The participants of the meeting approved the draft program of cooperation in combating illegal migration, the concept of cooperation in struggling human trafficking. The issues of expanding cooperation in strengthening border security at the external borders of the Commonwealth, as well as through financial intelligence units, were considered.

The Foreign Ministers agreed to hold the next meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Bishkek (Kyrgyz Republic) on April 3, 2015.

Nine of the approved draft resolutions in accordance with the established procedures will be submitted for consideration to the Council of Heads of State on October 10, 2014.