The agenda included issues of expanding trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian collaboration in the CIS region.
Heads
of delegations taking part in the meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent
States Council of Heads of Government
Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Hidayat oglu Asadov
Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan
Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko
Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov
Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic and Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Kyrgyz Republic, Chairman of the CIS Council of the Heads of Government Akylbek Japarov
Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin
Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Kohir Rasulzoda
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkmenistan to the Republic of Belarus, Permanent Representative of Turkmenistan at CIS statutory and other bodies Nazarguly Shaguliyev
Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov
General Secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergei Lebedev
Mikhail Mishustin’s remarks:
Colleagues,
I would like to thank everyone for their informative reports, and summarise the preliminary results of the Russian chairmanship of the CIS.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin emphasised at the CIS Heads of State Council meeting in Moscow in October that cooperation within the CIS is one of the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy.
We are interested in strengthening the economic and humanitarian ties rooted in our shared history. The CIS countries account for 16 percent of Russia’s foreign trade, and our mutual trade has grown by more than 11 percent in the three quarters of this year.
We specifically prioritise cooperation in education and science. Only recently, student teams from CIS countries presented their innovative ideas, thereby proving that we have many talented young people who work and study together, and are good friends.
During the Russian chairmanship of the CIS, we concentrated hard on implementing the first stage of the CIS Economic Development Strategy. We are working on several tracks, such as ensuring food and energy security, expanding our industrial cooperation, stimulating business activity, and promoting digital transformation and digitalisation.
On the transport track, we are implementing an action plan for the development of international transport corridors. We are creating a cutting-edge system of multimodal logistics centres, hubs and terminals. The implementation of the memorandum on cooperation in digital transformation of the transport sector, which we will adopt today, will help make the industry truly innovative, high-tech and advanced.
The CIS Energy Cooperation Concept was approved during the Russian chairmanship. We need to combine efforts to introduce modern methods of managing large energy systems to make our economies more competitive.
We continued establishing the International Organisation for the Russian Language. This initiative had been proposed by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a suggestion for this organisation to be based in Sochi. Now we need to ensure its launch and operation.
By a decision of the CIS heads of state, 2024 was dedicated to the volunteer movement. The relevant events brought together thousands of citizens of the CIS because they care. It is necessary to build up systemic cooperation to support volunteering, and to involve foundations, volunteer and public associations.
Our young people are interested in joint initiatives. Representatives from the CIS countries attended the World Youth Festival in Sochi.
We are now preparing for the first Intervision international music contest, which will be held next year. We certainly invite all CIS countries to send their representatives to participate in this project.
Today we are approving a plan of priority steps in humanitarian cooperation for the next two years, which naturally includes the upcoming celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
I am confident that the implementation of all our ambitious initiatives will serve to strengthen friendly and neighbourly ties between the nations of the CIS.
I wish every success to my distinguished colleague, Kohir Rasulzoda, as Tajikistan is taking over the rotating chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States.