22 years of the CIS
ASTANA. December 8. KAZINFORM - 22 years ago Belarus, Russia and Ukraine created the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - an interstate association formed by signing the Agreement on establishment of the CIS on 8 December 1991 in Minsk. These states stated the deep crisis of the USSR, which was ceasing to exist, and expressed willingness to develop cooperation in the political, economic, humanitarian, cultural and other fields.
21 December 1991, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan acceded to the Agreement by signing the Alma-Ata Declaration on the purposes and principles of the CIS together with Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.
In 1993, the CIS Charter was adopted, which provides for the scope of joint activities: ensuring human rights and freedoms, coordination of foreign policy, cooperation in formation of the common economic space in the development of transport and communication systems, protection of the population's health and environment, social issues and immigration policy, the fight against organized crime, cooperation in defense policy and protection of external borders.