A MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE HEADS OF GOVERNMENTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES WAS HELD IN VIDEOCONFERENCE FORMAT

On May 29, 2020, a regular meeting of the Council of the Heads of Governments of the Commonwealth of Independent States took place by videoconferencing.

The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister of the Azerbaijan Republic A.Asadov, the Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia M. Grigoryan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus S.Rumas, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan A.Mamin, the Vice Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic E.Asrandiev, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova I.Kiku, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation M.Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan K.Rasulzoda, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan R.Meredov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan A.Aripov, as well as the Chairman of the Executive Committee - CIS Executive Secretary S.Lebedev.

The meeting was held in narrow and wide formats. During the meetings, the Heads of Governments exchanged views on pressing issues of trade, economic, transport, industrial cooperation within the Commonwealth and the fight against a new type of coronavirus pandemic. In this context, the parties emphasized the importance of coordinating efforts and developing common approaches to overcome the spread of COVID-19.

During his speech, the head of the Turkmen delegation emphasized that in these circumstances, the priorities of our traditional agenda are changing, and we must pay close attention to countering the coronavirus pandemic. It is obvious that the CIS countries need to establish effective cooperation mechanisms in this direction. In particular, we are talking about the implementation of coordinated actions to ensure sanitary and quarantine measures at the borders between the CIS countries. At the same time, the mechanisms of scientific diplomacy must be fully utilized. The initiative of the President of Turkmenistan in this direction implies a constant exchange of experience and information on studying the nature of the origin of the new type of infection, the forms of manifestations of diseases caused by coronavirus.

A fundamentally important document considered during the meeting of the CHG was the draft Strategy for Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Independent States for the period until 2030. The content of the Strategy corresponds to the spirit and letter of the Declaration on Strategic Economic Cooperation of the CIS Member States developed and adopted at the initiative of Turkmenistan at last year’s Ashgabat Summit and serves as a logical continuation of the above Declaration.

The meeting considered and adopted a number of important draft documents, including the Priority areas of cooperation between the CIS member states in the field of transport for the period up to 2030; the Action Plan on the Year of Architecture and Urban Planning in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2021, and the Strategy for the Development of Cooperation of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States in the field of physical culture and sports for 2021–2030 and the Joint efforts of the CIS member-states in combating the spread of the coronavirus infection COVID-19.