Events

MINSK, 14 March (BelTA) – The development of humanitarian cooperation and the fight against new threats in the CIS will top the agenda of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council meeting in Minsk on 6 April, BelTA learned from the website of the CIS Executive Committee.

The CIS ministers of foreign affairs are expected to exchange views on the topical issues on the international agenda and cooperation in the CIS. They will also take stock of the CIS plan for multi-level ministerial consultations in 2017 and agree upon a similar plan for 2018.

The CIS Foreign Ministers Council meeting will consider 13 draft documents, most of which are aimed at developing humanitarian cooperation and ensuring security in the CIS. The humanitarian block will comprise draft decisions to declare 2021 the Year of Architecture and Urban Planning, announce the Congress of Teachers and Education Workers, the basic CIS institution to retrain and enhance qualifications of the tax (financial) investigation personnel. The Academy of Law Enforcement Agencies under the Prosecutor General's Office of Kazakhstan is likely to be named the basic CIS institution. The foreign ministers will discuss the prospects of the international youth project 100 Ideas for the CIS.

More than half of the issues on the agenda of the forthcoming meeting are aimed at expanding cooperation against new challenges and threats to security in the CIS space. The foreign ministers will discuss the CIS draft agreement on cooperation against crimes in the field of information technology. The agenda will also include draft interstate programs on joint measures against crime for 2019-2023, an agreement to combat the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, financing of terrorism and financing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Among the important documents on the agenda of the forthcoming CIS Foreign Ministers Council are also draft decisions to introduce amendments to the provisions on the Defense Ministers Council, its secretariat, and the provision on the CIS Anti- Terrorism Center.