On April 6-7, 2017, Tashkent hosted the regular meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The participants - the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edvard Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, Erlan Abdyldaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, Sirodzhidin Aslov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, Abdulaziz Kamilov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova, Lilian Dariy, Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan, Vepa Hajiyev and Chairman of the Executive Committee - CIS Executive Secretary, Sergey Lebedev.
The meeting was chaired by the Russian side.
The Heads of the delegations discussed the current state and prospects for advancing cooperation in various areas of the organization's activities, enhancing its role and place in international and regional affairs, the press service of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.
The sides exchanged views on issues of strengthening regional security and stability, deepening trade, economic and cultural-humanitarian cooperation, as well as ensuring sustainable development of the CIS member states.
In line with the agenda, the foreign ministers considered 15 documents, 9 of which will be submitted to the Council of Heads of State in October and the Council of Heads of Governments of the Commonwealth in May this year.
The documents are related to the coordination of the Commonwealth countries in foreign policy, legal, cultural, humanitarian and other areas.
The participants adopted a Statement on the inadmissibility of discrimination and intolerance against Christians, Muslims and representatives of other faiths. The document expresses concern about continuing manifestations of intolerance, violence and terrorist attacks against individuals based on their religion or beliefs. All manifestations of intolerance, discrimination, violence and terrorist acts against Christians, Muslims and representatives of other faiths are strongly condemned. The parties expressed their intention to continue to promote efforts to consolidate the position of the international community in this direction.
The Foreign Ministers heard the information of the CIS Executive Committee on allocation of quotas, appointment and rotation of the Deputy Chairmen of the Executive Committee - the CIS Executive Secretary and other officials, to quota positions at the CIS headquarters.
The draft Concept of Cooperation of the CIS Member States in the field of combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from criminal activities, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the Protocol on the transfer of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, firearms, their main parts, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices that constitute material evidence in criminal cases has been approved for subsequent submission to the Council of Heads of States.
Issues of the implementation of the Interstate Program "Cultural Capitals of the Commonwealth" in 2018 were discussed, giving the status of the basic organization to certain educational and academic institutions of the CIS countries in training metrologists of the armed forces, as well as personnel for tax (financial) investigation bodies.
The meeting was held in a constructive spirit and in an atmosphere of mutual understanding. The participants expressed gratitude to the Uzbek side for the high organization of the meeting of the Foreign Ministers Council and the traditionally warm hospitality during the events in Tashkent.
Within the framework of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, a number of bilateral meetings of the Foreign Ministers of the participating states were held.
The next meeting of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council will be held on October 10, 2017 in Moscow.
