DUSHANBE, November 21, Asia-Plus - A Tajik Minister Oqil Oqilov will attend the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) government heads’ meeting in the Belarus capital city of Minsk set for November 24, presidential press service reported.

A delegation consisting of heads of a number of the country’s ministries and organizations will accompany Oqilov on this trip.  

According to presidential press service, the meeting is aiming to consider cooperation within the CIS as well as issues that will be discussed at a meeting of organizations’ leader that will be held in Minsk on November 28.  

It is expected that all the commonwealth leaders to attend the summit meeting in Minsk.  Some members of the 11-nation confederation have recently shunned CIS initiatives and meetings, criticizing the CIS as ineffective, and calling it a vehicle to promote Russia''s interests.  The summit will have a packed agenda, including economic integration, spending on CIS organizations in 2007, as well as reform of the alliance, with an emphasis on economic issues in line proposals from the president of Kazakhstan.

President Emomali Rahmonov is scheduled to hold a number of bilateral meetings with a number of his CIS counterparts on the sidelines of the summit in Minsk.