CIS Heads of State Council meeting kicks off in Astana
Astana, The Gulf Observer: The Kazakh capital Astana is hosting the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Heads of State Council meeting chaired by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev today.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and CIS Executive Secretary and Chairman of the Executive Committee Sergei Lebedev are in attendance.
“I sincerely thank you for supporting the initiatives of Kazakhstan within the CIS chairmanship and participation in international events taking place these days in Astana,” Tokayev said in his welcoming remarks.
The meeting is expected to discuss the cooperation within the CIS, consider and adopt documents to develop and strengthen integration ties in the trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian and security areas.
The leaders are also expected to adopt the program of cooperation in combating terrorism and other violent manifestations of extremism for 2023-2025.
In 2020, the CIS summit made a decision to declare 2022 the Year of Folk Arts and Cultural Heritage, and 2023 is the Year of Russian Language as a language of interethnic communication.
The heads of state will also make a decision on passing the CIS chairmanship in 2023 to Kyrgyzstan.
