DUSHANBE, May 24, 2014, Asia-Plus  -- Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov will represent Tajikistan at the next session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government that will take place in Minsk, Belarus on May 31.

The CIS Council of Heads of Government is expected to consider 30 draft documents aimed at expanding the economic and humanitarian ties, security, cooperation in other priority areas.

The results of the implementation of CIS interstate innovation cooperation program in 2012 will be a major topic of the meeting.

Tajik PM is expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings in Minsk, on the sidelines of the session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government.

According to the CIS Executive Committee, the Protocol on Application of the Treaty on the CIS Free Trade Zone of October 18, 2011 between its Signatory Parties and Uzbekistan is expected to be signed during the session.  This document reportedly determines legal mechanisms of relations between Uzbekistan and the Signatory Parties to the Agreement.

Meanwhile, Belarusian news agency, BelTA, reports that Minsk will host a joint meeting of the CIS Permanent Plenipotentiaries Council and the Economic Affairs Commission under the CIS Economic Council on May 28.  The agenda comprises four important issues regarding expansion of economic cooperation and preparations for the forthcoming meeting of the CIS Heads of Government Council.

The CIS Council of Heads of Government was established on December 21, 1991.  The council is the second major body in the CIS after the CIS Council of Heads of State, and consists of the prime ministers of all member states.  The council coordinates the CIS member states'' cooperation in economic, social and other areas of their common interests, and adopts corresponding decisions through consensus.  The CIS Council of Heads of Government convenes twice a year, normally in winter and autumn. Extraordinary meetings are summoned on the initiative of the government of a member state.

Established on December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization.  It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.  Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.