A session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government is being held in the Kazakh capital of Astana today.
Media reports say the event is attended by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov, Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov, Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Akylbek Japarov, Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of Tajikistan Qohir Rasoulzoda, Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Megri Grigoryan, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan Hojamyrat Geldimyradow.
According to AKIpress, the meeting is addressing several issues, including the following: agreement on free trade of services, investments; holding the second CIS Games in Belarus in 2023; agreement of cooperation in prevention of and response to emergency situations in public health; concept of science and technology cooperation; concept of digital transformation of chemical complex; interstate radio navigation program for 2023-2026; interstate program on remediation of territories of the states affected by uranium mining; action plan on humanitarian cooperation for 2023-2024; and financial support of CIS bodies.
In all, more than 10 documents are expected to be adopted at the meeting.
This is the 80th meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government since 1991. The previous meeting was held via video link in May. Kazakhstan holds chairmanship this year.
The CIS Council of Heads of Government was established on December 21, 1991. The council is the second major body in the CIS after the CIS Council of Heads of State, and consists of the prime ministers of all member states. The council coordinates the CIS member states'' cooperation in economic, social and other areas of their common interests, and adopts corresponding decisions through consensus. The session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government is convened twice a year, normally in winter and autumn. Extraordinary meetings are summoned on the initiative of the government of a member state.
Founded in 1991 as a regional association of former Soviet republics, the CIS now consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine and Turkmenistan are associate members of the organization. Georgia pulled out quitted of the organization in 2009. Ukraine formally ended its participation in CIS statutory bodies in 2018, although it had stopped participating in the organization much earlier.
