DUSHANBE, November 20, 2014, Asia-Plus — Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda today departed for Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to attend a session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government that will take place in the Turkmen capital on November 21.
The session participants are expected to discuss some twenty issues related to cooperation between the CIS nations in various areas.
According to the CIS Executive Committee, the session participants will discuss the progress of implementation of the CIS free trade agreement (FTA) that was signed by Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan on October 18, 2011 and came into force for Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine; Tajikistan has not yet ratified the agreement. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan joined the FTA on May 31 last year.
The CIS FTA provides for free movement of goods within the territory of the CIS, non-application of import customs duties, non-discrimination, gradual decrease of export customs duties and abolishment of quantitative restrictions in mutual trade between the CIS FTA member states.
The CIS heads of government will also discuss the results of work carried out by the CIS Intergovernmental Council for Exploration, Usage and Preservation of Mineral Resources in 2011-2013 as well as competition and pricing in oil and oil product markets.
The two important issues that have been tabled to the meeting’s agenda are the Interstate Targeted Program of Recultivation of Territories of the Nations Affected by Uranium-Mining Industries and the CIS Concept of Nuclear and Radiation Safety.
The Interstate Targeted Program of Recultivation of Territories of the Nations Affected by Uranium-Mining Industries provides for implementing a pilot project on recultivating two objects in Kyrgyzstan (Kaji-Say and Min-Kush) and one in Tajikistan (Taboshar) that pose potential transboundary environmental threat to the Central Asian region.
The session is also expected to discuss a number of documents related to humanitarian cooperation between the CIS nations.
While in Ashgabat, Rasoulzoda will hold a number of bilateral meetings, the source said.
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 CIS Council of Heads of Government convenes twice a year, normally in winter and autumn. Extraordinary meetings are summoned on the initiative of the government of a member state.
Established on December 8, 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.
