At the press conference held today after the meeting of the CIS Council of heads of state, the summit results were summarized by the Chairman of the Executive Committee-CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov.
According to the state information Agency of Turkmenistan, the Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee noted the high level of organization of the meeting, at which 8 documents submitted to the leaders of the countries were signed.
Speaking about the atmosphere of the summit, Sergei Lebedev stressed that there was a Frank, meaningful exchange of views on topical issues of integration cooperation, hot topics were openly discussed, positions on priority areas of further development of the CIS were verified.
– For me, as The Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, it is very important that all speakers highly appreciated the chairmanship of Turkmenistan in the Commonwealth of the Independent States, the level of organization of all planned events, - said S. Lebedev.
The chairmanship of Turkmenistan was interested, responsible and meaningful. It contributed, in General, to raising the level of our integration cooperation within the CIS. All heads of delegations expressed gratitude to the leadership of Turkmenistan and personally to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for the great attention to partnership in the Commonwealth, the Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee stressed.
Then Sergey Lebedev touched upon the topic of Uzbekistan's chairmanship in the CIS in 2020. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined a brief concept of the upcoming mission and, importantly, confirmed the continuity of integration work within the CIS. According to the unanimous decision of the Council, the co-chairs will be Turkmenistan as the country delegating the mission of the presidency, and Belarus as the country applying for the presidency in 2021. The next meeting of the Council of CIS heads of state, on the proposal of Uzbekistan, will be held on October 16, 2020, in Tashkent.
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov noted that within the framework of the country's chairmanship in the CIS, meetings of absolutely all statutory bodies of the Commonwealth were held in Ashgabat during the year. Today it is the Council of heads of state, on May 31 the regular meeting of the Council of heads of government was held, on September 13 the Turkmen capital became the venue for the forum of the Economic Council and yesterday the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers was held. In addition, Ashgabat hosted meetings of various industry structures of the CIS.
– During this year, we have tried in every possible way to promote absolutely all the initiatives and proposals expressed by the Commonwealth States at various meetings. I think it turned out, - said the head of the foreign Ministry of the country.
Speaking about the results of the summit of CIS heads of state, Rashid Meredov focused on the importance of signing the Declaration on a strategic economic partnership of the Commonwealth States, the development of which was initiated by the President of Turkmenistan in October 2017 in Sochi. All Commonwealth States participated in the preparation of this document.
– Today we expressed our gratitude to the participants of this process, experts, specialists of the CIS Executive Committee. This is indeed a basic fundamental document that defines the main parameters of further economic cooperation between our States. The novelty of this document is that it laid down new principles of economic partnership between the CIS countries with access to neighboring countries and regions, that is, the international scale of economic cooperation of the CIS States is expanding, " the Turkmen Foreign Minister stressed.
R. Meredov called the address of the heads of the CIS member States To the peoples of the Commonwealth countries and the world community in connection with the 75th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the great Patriotic war of 1941-1945 an important document in the aspect of preserving the historical memory and Patriotic education of the younger generation. In this regard, the President of Turkmenistan made proposals for the implementation of this document.
– We already have an action plan, and we will try to discuss the practical component of these proposals with Sergei Lebedev in the near future – said the foreign Minister.
As the head of the foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan concluded, the meeting of the Council of heads of States was held in a constructive manner. This has traditionally been political communication at the highest state level in an open, frank and friendly atmosphere.
– I would like to thank the CIS Executive Committee, its Chairman -Sergey Nikolaevich Lebedev and congratulate him on the extension of his powers for the next 3 – year period, as well as on the presentation of one of the highest state awards of Turkmenistan – the order "Bitaraplyk", which is awarded for a great personal contribution to the development and strengthening of interstate relations, - said Rashid Meredov.
Sergei Lebedev, who then took the floor, told the media that during the Summit its leadership awarded the President of Turkmenistan with the medal "for merits in the development of humanitarian cooperation". At the ceremony, it was stressed that at the initiative of leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, many very important humanitarians’ events have been held in Turkmenistan in recent years.
- I remembered another very important event, - said Sergey Lebedev in conclusion. – This is the festival of school sports of the CIS in Avaza, initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who in an interview with me suggested: "Lets, Sergey Nikolaevich, we, Turkmenistan, will fully pay for the arrival here of schoolchildren from the CIS countries, from each country 10 young athletes."
And 110 students from Commonwealth countries came to Avaza for a week. The festival was curated by three-time Olympic figure skating champion Irina Rodnina. I communicated with her and with the participants. It was a big holiday for the guys. The President himself leads an active lifestyle, pays great attention to the development of health care and sports. Taking into account all these circumstances, the interstate Fund for humanitarian cooperation decided to award the Turkmen leader with the medal "for merits in the development of humanitarian cooperation".
