Belarus full of plans for its CIS presidency

18:25, 6 April 2014

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM After assuming its CIS presidency, Belarus will not only fulfill organizational functions, but also give substance to its chairmanship, BelTA learned from Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei after the session of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council in Moscow on 4 April.

At the same time Vladimir Makei underlined that a full-fledged CIS presidency concept is hardly possible in the given circumstances. He reminded that during its CIS presidency in 2013, Belarus fulfilled about 70 points of the concept. The slogan of the concept was "Integration Benefits For Everyone". Belarus will stick to it throughout this year.

This year Belarus will fulfill organizational and technical functions, but this does not mean that Belarus will not be involved in concrete projects, the Belarusian Foreign Minister underlined. In his words, Belarus will keep implementing the CIS presidency concept started in 2013. It will also consider the suggestions stipulated by Ukraine's CIS presidency concept, BelTA reports.

The Foreign Minister noted that one of the major priorities of Belarus' presidency is promoting cooperation between the CIS member states. Besides, Belarus is going to focus on economic matters, supervise the implementation of the CIS free trade agreement, and push for the development of the CIS free trade agreement for services and the agreement on government contracts. Besides, Belarus will pay due attention to the preparation for the forthcoming 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War in the CIS member states.

Vladimir Makei added that Belarus will help organize events related to the CIS Year of Tourism, the CIS Forum of Creative and Academic Intellectuals, the 3rd congress of teachers of the CIS and a number of other events.

Interview CIS Diplomacy Foreign policy Belarus