Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 28 October 2022, a regular meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments of the Commonwealth of Independent States was held in Astana under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov, Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers - Head of the Administration of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Akylbek Zhaparov, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tajikistan Kokhir Rasulzoda, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan Khodjamyrat Geldimyradov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov, Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Sergey Lebedev.

The meeting participants considered all issues included in the agenda and adopted more than 20 documents.

In a narrow format, the heads of governments exchanged views on topical issues of economic cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, discussed the preparation of a draft Agreement on free trade in services, the establishment, operation and investment.

In a wide format, the participants of the meeting heard a report on the II Games of the CIS countries in August next year in Belarus. Information on this issue was made by the head of the organizing committee for ensuring the preparation and holding of the Games, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Igor Petrishenko. He told the audience about the sports bases of the competitions, places of accommodation and meals for the participants, about the organization of medical and transport support. The adopted decision contains an appeal to the governments of the Commonwealth countries to send sports delegations to participate in the II Games of the CIS countries.

The heads of government also discussed and signed an agreement on cooperation in preventing and responding to public health emergencies of a sanitary and epidemiological nature. The draft Agreement was presented at the meeting by the head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare, Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation Anna Popova. According to her, the adoption of the Agreement will contribute to the formation in the Commonwealth of a system for monitoring and responding to emergencies in the field of public health of a sanitary and epidemiological nature. The document regulates the procedure for assistance in the elimination of such emergencies to the CIS states, including through the involvement of mobile anti-epidemic units of the Commonwealth countries. The Agreement also defines the main areas of work and the conditions for their use in the CIS countries.

The Council of Heads of Governments also approved the Plan of Joint Actions of the CIS Member States to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance. The measures prescribed in the Plan are based on an analysis of the situation in states, define a comprehensive and intersectoral approach for all sectors where antimicrobials are used (health, agriculture, including livestock, crop production, aquaculture, food production and circulation, environmental protection environment).

At the meeting, the Concept of scientific, technical and technological cooperation and the Concept of digital transformation of the chemical complex industries of the CIS member states, as well as action plans for their implementation, were approved.

Decisions were signed on the Interstate Radio Navigation Program for 2023–2026 and on the Interstate Target Program “Reclamation of the Territories of States Affected by Uranium Mining Industries”.

The heads of governments approved the Regulations on the Operator of the Interstate Program for Innovative Cooperation of the CIS Member States for the period up to 2030 and the Regulations on the procedure for accreditation and conditions for the participation of legal entities and individuals in this program.

The meeting participants also approved the Action Plan for holding in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2023 the Year of the Russian language as the language of interethnic communication. The document contains over 150 paragraphs. These are events of a general humanitarian, scientific, educational, cultural and educational nature to train and improve the skills of teaching staff in the field of the Russian language, identify and support gifted children and youth in the field of Russian studies, attract citizens of the CIS countries to study at Russian universities, and cooperate in the field of librarianship and book publishing. A separate section of the Plan is devoted to information support for the Year of the Russian Language in the CIS.

Another document reviewed and approved at the level of heads of governments is the Plan of Priority Actions in the Field of Humanitarian Cooperation for 2023-2024. The expediency of its development and adoption is due to the need to coordinate multilateral interaction in the fields of education, science, culture, information and mass communications, book publishing, book distribution and printing, in the field of sports and a healthy lifestyle, tourism, work with youth. The plan contains 9 sections, including more than 200 events.

In terms of cooperation in the field of defense and security, the heads of government approved funding for the further development of the unified air defense system of the CIS member states.

Financing of measures for the implementation of the Interstate Program for Improving the Quality of Life of War Veterans will continue

– participants in local conflicts and their families in the CIS member states for 2021–2025. Adjustments have been made to the implementation of the activities of the Committee for the Affairs of Internationalist Warriors under the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth Member States to continue in 2020-2024 the search for servicemen who went missing during the war in Afghanistan in 1979-1989, the search for burial sites, exhumation, identification remains and their reburial in their homeland.

In addition, a large block of issues on financial support for the activities of the CIS bodies was considered at the meeting of the Council.

It was decided to hold the next meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments of the Commonwealth of Independent States on 7 June 2023 in Sochi.