CIS foreign ministers have adopted a declaration on inadmissibility of discrimination and intolerance against Christians, Muslims and representatives of other faiths.
Foreign ministers from the CIS member nations gathered in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, on April 7.
The meeting was reportedly attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldayev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov, Moldovan Deputy Foreign Minister Lilian Darii, Turkmen Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev, Uzbek Foreign Minister Anvar Nasirov and CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev.
The meeting participants discussed 15 draft documents and nine of them will be submitted for consideration to the CIS Council of Heads of Government that will take place in May and to the CIS Council of Heads of State that will take place in October.
One of the most important documents considered at the CIS foreign ministers’ meeting in Tashkent was the draft declaration on the inadmissibility of discrimination and intolerance against Christians, Muslims and representatives of other faiths.
The CIS Council of Foreign Ministers, in particular, expresses concern about ongoing manifestations of intolerance and violence against separate persons because of their religious or ethical beliefs.
The meeting participants reportedly also exchanged views on issues related to strengthening regional security and stability, expanding economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the CIS member nations as well as providing sustainable development of them.
They also discussed the implementation of the program "Cultural Capitals of the Commonwealth" in 2018 in Armenia (Goris) and the issue of giving the Nizhny Novgorod Academy of the Russian Interior Ministry the status of the basic organization responsible for the training of personnel for tax (financial) investigation on educational programs in higher education and additional professional programs.
The next meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers will take place in Moscow on October 10, 2017.
The Council of Foreign Minister of the CIS Member Nations is the main executive body ensuring cooperation in the field of foreign policy activities of the CIS member states on the matters of mutual interest, adopting decisions during the period between the meetings of the Council of the CIS Heads of State, the Council of the CIS Heads of Government and by their orders. The first session of the Council took place in August 1993.
Established on December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization. It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
