A meeting of The Council of Foreign Minister of the CIS Member Nations is being held today through video-conferencing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Tajikistan says foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as the Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Sergei Lebedev are participating in the meeting.  

The meeting’s agenda reportedly includes 12 items, including the issue of COVID-19 prevention and response.

The foreign ministers will exchange views on the international situation and the results and new priority areas of interaction within the CIS.  

The ministers will also review the documents that will be submitted to the CIS Council of Heads of State. Council, including the draft statements on the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Organization and on cooperation in international information security, the concepts of the CIS development and of military cooperation and the draft cooperation program to strengthen border security on the external borders.  

The foreign ministers will also approve the schedule of multilevel ministerial consultations in the CIS in 2021 and sign the documents to designate the base organizations to train personnel in various fields.

The meeting participants will also discuss a number of regional and international issues. 

The Council of Foreign Minister of the CIS Member Nations is the main executive body ensuring cooperation in the field of foreign policy activities of the CIS member states on the matters of mutual interest, adopting decisions during the period between the meetings of the Council of the CIS Heads of State, the Council of the CIS Heads of Government and by their orders.  The first session of the Council took place in August 1993.