Any city can bid to become "The CIS Capital of Culture", Dolya says

The pilot project implemented in Gomel and Ulyanovsk in 2011 has shown that it is interesting not only to government agencies and organizations but also to local residents who responded to the initiative by active participation in its events and even initiated some of them. "Therefore, our project can be implemented in any city. The most important thing is the interest of people. Gomel lived up to these high expectations. We are sure that Mogilev will do a good job too. The city has vast experience in organizing international, national and other events," Ms Elvira Dolya said.

The interstate program "The CIS Capital of Culture" is implemented successively in each of the states-members of the CIS in accordance with the alphabetical order of the names of the states. For that CIS member states hold contests for the right to become "The CIS Capital of Culture".

For the effective implementation of the program, the interstate council of the interstate program "The CIS Capital of Culture" was created. It will supervise the implementation of the program, will ensure its high social status and continuity in the implementation, BelTA informs.

The decision to name Mogilev the CIS Capital of Culture in 2013 was adopted by the CIS Council of Heads of State. This year the CIS capitals of culture are also Gyumri (Armenia) and Gabala (Azerbaijan).