Constructive exchange of opinions on perspectives of cooperation has been held at the session of the Foreign Minister Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States held in Moscow today.

In his speech, Vice-premier, Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov has outlined Turkmen side’s vision on the way of strengthening of cooperation under the CIS as well as highlighted regional and international agenda.

Speaking of important to follow the UN Charter in interstate relations, the Foreign Minister of our country highlighted the currency of the initiative of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on proclamation of 2021 as International Year of Peace and Trust, which was supported by the relevant of the UN General Assembly.

It was also noted that Turkmenistan works on the UN Code of Practices on efficient use of the principles of neutrality during regulation of international issues. It means the use of peace-making tools of neutrality for non-admission of conflict escalation, making conditions for their solution by peaceful, political and diplomatic methods.

The head of the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan has called for interested cooperation in this and other matters, which present mutual interest.

In addition, Vice-premier R. Meredov has outlined the position of Turkmenistan for strengthening of the efficiency of mechanisms made under the CIS at the session of the Council. It was noted that Turkmen side stands for development of common approaches based on the principles of international law.

Interest of our country in strengthening of cooperation in protection of common historical and cultural heritage, intensification of scientific contacts and partnership in healthcare sphere has been expressed.

Chairman of the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Vladimir Makei, Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, as well as State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee attended the meeting.

In a narrow format, the heads of the delegations exchanged views on the important issues of the international agenda and cooperation in the CIS format, as well as adopted the draft Address of the heads of the CIS member states to the peoples of the Commonwealth countries and the world community on occasion of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

In the framework of the expanded meeting, the status of the implementation of the Action Programme to enhance partnership between the CIS Ministries of Foreign Affairs in 2020 was considered. In particular, it was noted that the partners managed to advance in many positions of the document, to maintain an active inter-ministerial dialogue on the key topics and coordinate efforts, interacting at leading international platforms.

Moreover, meeting participants approved the results of the multi-level inter-ministerial consultations held in 2020 within the framework of the Commonwealth.

The heads of the foreign-policy agencies instructed the CIS Executive Committee to submit the draft Plan of multi-level inter-ministerial consultations within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States for 2022 to the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

Two documents, the drafts of which were approved by the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, will be submitted to the Council of CIS Heads of Government for consideration. Among them are the document on cooperation in the field of geodesy, cartography and remote sensing of the Earth and the document on the creation of a basic organization for operational and strategic training of officers of the armed forces.

The meeting participants also approved medium-term action plans for the implementation of CIS strategies - the development of cooperation in the field of physical culture and sports, international youth cooperation, as well as in the field of tourism.