Kazakhstan ready to take over CIS presidency in 2015

According to Sergei Lebedev, Astana is ready to accept the presidency. The official said he was confident that the decision will be approved at the forthcoming session of the CIS Heads of State Council in Minsk.

Sergei Lebedev mentioned the high degree of readiness for the CIS summit. He remarked that 17 items are on the agenda. The items cover interaction in political and humanitarian spheres, security enhancements. In particular, the heads of state are expected to adopt a resolution in view of the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War that will be marked in 2015. A number of items will be dedicated to enhancing cooperation in the counteraction of illegal drugs, slave trade, illegal migration, and border security enhancement, BelTA reports.

Plans have been made to approve the resolution on declaring Russian Voronezh and Tajik Kulob as cultural capitals of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2015. Apart from that, the decision to declare the year 2016 as the Year of Education in the CIS is supposed to be made.

Speaking about Belarus' presidency in the CIS, Sergei Lebedev remarked that the Belarusian side has been successfully carrying out this mission for two years in a row.