President Serzh Sargsyan partakes in session of CIS Council of Heads of State

President Serzh Sargsyan, who has paid a working visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan, took part on October 16 in the session of the CIS Council of Heads of State in Burabay. The session was presided over by the host country’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Prior to going on to the discussion of the agenda items, the CIS heads of state congratulated Alexander Lukashenko on taking a convincing victory in the presidential elections, and Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev on the successful end of the parliamentary elections.

During the narrow and broadened sessions of the council, the presidents discussed and adopted a wide range of issues pertaining to integration collaboration within the frames of the commonwealth, concluded around two dozen documents, including the Statement on the 70th Anniversary of the Foundation of the United Nations, the Statement on the Fight Against International Terrorism, and the Address on the 30th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster.

During the session, the parties put special emphasis on security issues and attached importance to collaboration in the given sphere. The CIS heads of state signed a number of international agreements related to the areas of law-enforcement and elimination of consequences of natural and technogenic emergency situations. The council session also adopted the 2020 Concept Paper on Defense Cooperation, the 2016-2020 Cooperation Program on Strengthening the Security of External Borders, and approved the list of the CIS member states’ border and other agency formations aimed at dealing with crisis situations on the CIS member states’ external borders.

The CIS heads of state also dwelled on the issues aimed at deepening humanitarian collaboration. The parties decided to implement the program “Cultural Capitals for Cooperation” in Turkmenistan, proclaiming the country’s Daşoguz city as a 2016 CIS cultural capital.

It was decided to hold the next summit of the CIS heads of state on October 16 2016 in Kyrgyzstan. The 2016 CIS chairmanship was taken by the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.