On Thursday May 12, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin met here with Sergei Lebedev, Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee – CIS Executive Secretary.
According to the Tajik MFA information department, the parties discussed issues related to political, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
CIS Executive Secretary reportedly informed Tajik Foreign Minister about the progress of preparations for the spring session of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers.
Muhriddin and Lebedev also exchanged views on a number of reginal and international issues being of mutual interest.
The CIS Executive Committee Chairman arrived in Dushanbe for participation in the CIS foreign ministers’ session that is being held in the Tajik capital tomorrow.
Foreign ministers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will participate in the session. They are expected to discuss prospects of cooperation within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. A special attention will be given to the issues related to international security and further expansion of humanitarian and scientific collaboration.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)[a] is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eastern Europe and Asia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are member nations of the CIS.
Ukraine and Turkmenistan have ratified the CIS Creation Agreement, making them "founding states of the CIS", but did not ratify the subsequent Charter that would make them members of the CIS. These countries, while not being formal members of the CIS, were allowed to participate in CIS. They were also allowed to participate in various CIS initiatives, e.g. the Commonwealth of Independent States Free Trade Area, which were, however, formulated mostly as independent multilateral agreements, and not as internal CIS agreements.
Sergei Lebedev (born April 9, 1948) is an Uzbekistan-born Russian political figure who has been the Executive Secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 2007. He had previously been General of the Army in the Russian Armed Forces and Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) from 2000 to 2007
The Executive Committee is the unite permanently functioning executive, administrative and coordinating body of the CIS, which organizes the activities of the Council of the Heads of State, Council of the Heads of Government, Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS member nations, Economic Council and other bodies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, prepares proposals on extending economic cooperation in the framework of the CIS, creating and functioning free trade zone, ensuring favorable conditions for transition to higher stage of economic cooperation, developing common economic space in future, jointly with the member nations and the bodies of the CIS develops proposals and draft documents aimed at providing the development of the CIS member nations in political, economic, social and other spheres.
