The summit of the heads of the CIS countries ended in Astana || Спецвыпуск 16.10.2022

This is a special program from the ANNA NEWS. I am Constantine Reztsov.

The capital city of Kazakhstan hosted a summit of the heads of the CIS countries. The summit took place without the participation of Moldova and Ukraine. The Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, refused to attend the summit. The leaders of states of the organization — Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have gathered for a meeting in person for the first time since 2020.

The parties discussed the issue of interaction within the CIS, considered and adopted a package of documents on the further development of the integration ties in the trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian, and security matters.

One of the key statements at the forum was Vladimir Putin’s proposal to use goodwill in resolving the conflicts in the CIS. He explained that conflicts within the CIS must be resolved via diplomacy. He added that despite all the positive interactions in the CIS space — there are still disputes and disagreements.

During the summit, the CIS leaders agreed to create an international organization to support and promote the Russian language. Decisions were made to intensify the work on a draft free trade agreement.

Regarding the cultural and humanitarian matters — an agreement was reached to declare the year of 2024 to be a year of volunteer movements in the CIS.

The year of 2025 was declared the year of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, as well as the year of peace and the fight against Nazism. 2026 has been declared to be the Year of Health. In 2023, St. Petersburg will officially be assigned the status of the cultural capital of the CIS. A program of cooperation in the fight against the terrorism for 2023-2025 was adopted for the sake of security matters.

The status of an observer and a partner will be established in the CIS, which will make it possible to involve other countries in the work of the organization. A new regulation on the Commission on Human Rights in the CIS has also been adopted.

During the event, the position of the executive secretary of the CIS was renamed into the general secretary. The current powers of Sergei Lebedev were extended on his post for 3 years.

He stated that none of the heads of states questioned the need to preserve and further develop the CIS. The next meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of States will be held on 13th of October, 2023, in Bishkek.

ANNA NEWS is following the events. Stay tuned.