Procedures to help CIS citizens abroad discussed
11:33, 2 June 2012
MINSK. June 2. KAZINFORM A session of the Advisory council of heads of consular services of the foreign ministries of the CIS member states took place in the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on 31 May - 1 June. Chaired by Head of the Central Consular Office Alexander Ostrovsky, the session gathered representatives of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and the CIS Executive Committee, representatives of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry told BelTA.
The sides shared up-to-date information about the operation of consular services of the foreign ministries of the CIS states and the procedures they follow to cooperate for the sake of providing aid to citizens of their countries abroad.
The sides presented an analysis of their experience of evacuating citizens during natural calamities, emergencies, and other crisis phenomena, experience of issuing biometric passports, the mechanism for returning children without parental care to their homeland. The sides discussed problems involved in the implementation of legal aid conventions and possible ways to address them.
Participants of the session agreed that they will continue the practice of mutual aid as part of the existing legal base.