Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States was held on 14 April 2023 in Samarkand.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Khalaf Khalafov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Aleinik, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Jeenbek Kulubaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan Sirojiddin Mukhriddin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Vepa Khadzhiev, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov, Secretary General of the CIS Sergey Lebedev.

The participants of the meeting considered 10 questions. Traditionally, the meeting was held in narrow and wide formats.

In a narrow format, the heads of the foreign ministries exchanged views on topical issues on the international agenda and interaction in the Commonwealth format. A decision was made on the date and place of the next meeting of the Ministerial Council. It will take place on 12 October 2023 in Bishkek.

In a broad format, the participants of the meeting discussed the issue of the Spartakiad of the CIS countries among children with disabilities. Alexei Morozov, Deputy Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, addressed the heads of delegations on this issue.

The corresponding draft Regulation was developed by the Russian side. It is planned to hold sports days once every four years, separately for winter and summer sports. At the same time, the first competitions are proposed to be held in 2024 for winter sports, and in 2026 for summer sports. The sports competitions in the Paralympic and Deaflympic (Deflympic) sports will be included in the sports competitions.

Members of the Council of Foreign Ministers approved draft documents related to the Spartakiad of the CIS countries among children with disabilities. The final decision on their establishment will be made at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which will be held on June 8 in Sochi.

The participants of the meeting approved the results of the multilevel inter-MFA consultations held in 2022 within the framework of the CIS and instructed the Commonwealth Executive Committee, together with the foreign ministries of the states, to develop and submit, in accordance with the established procedure, a similar draft Plan for 2024 for consideration by the Council of Foreign Ministers.

It should be noted that 14 consultations were held in 2022, including meetings of the Advisory Council of the Heads of Consular Services and the Advisory Committee of the Heads of Legal Services of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the CIS Member States. During the consultations, a broad exchange of information and views on topical foreign policy issues of mutual interest took place.

At the meeting, it was also decided to continue the implementation of the Program of Action to intensify partnership between the foreign ministries of the Commonwealth countries. Particular attention is recommended to be paid to joint work on the consistent development and deepening of cooperation in priority areas of interaction between the organization, as well as expanding the practice of supporting the initiatives of the CIS states in the international arena.

The heads of the foreign policy departments determined the sports capitals of the Commonwealth for the next two years. In particular, in 2023 Minsk will become the sports center of the CIS, a year later - the city of Gyumri (Armenia).

Giving the status of the Sports Capital of the Commonwealth to the cities of the CIS member states will make it possible to clearly reveal their sports potential in the Commonwealth space, expand opportunities for involving the population in physical culture and sports, attracting additional resource support, including for infrastructural improvement of cities.

In addition, at the meeting, documents concerning the announcement of the cultural and youth capitals of the Commonwealth were approved and submitted for consideration by the regular meetings of the Council of Heads of State and the Council of Heads of Government.

The Council of Foreign Ministers decided to give the status of the basic organization of the Commonwealth member states for the training and retraining of journalistic personnel to the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, approved the draft Agreement on cooperation on documenting persons subject to forcible expulsion with certificates of return.