DUSHANBE, October 30, 2015, Asia-Plus – A session of the CIS Council of Heads of Government is taking place in Dushanbe today.

A source in the Tajik government says Armenian Prime Minister Ovik Abramayan, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrey Kobyakov, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Temir Sariyev and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Dushanbe for participation in the meeting.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are represented at the meeting by deputy prime ministers and Ukraine is represented at the meeting by Ukrainian Ambassador to Tajikistan Viktor Nikityuk.

40 issues have been tabled to the meeting’s agenda.  The majority of these issues reportedly concern expansion of trade and economic cooperation between the CIS member nations.

Thus, the meeting participants are discussing the progress of implementation of the agreement on the free trade zone, events on implementation of the third phase of the CIS economic development strategy, issues related to innovative cooperation, competition in commodity markets, electric coupling, energy, equity market, etc.

They will also consider documents regulating collaboration in the fields of sports and physical training, international youth cooperation, education, medical and social support for veterans, as well as prevention of emergency situations and mitigation of their effects.

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 8, 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.