MINSK, 13 October (BelTA) - On 12 October, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei attended the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers in Astana on 12 October. The foreign ministers exchanged views on the global and regional agenda. They discussed and coordinated approaches to deepen multifaceted cooperation within the CIS, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Vladimir Makei drew special attention to the importance of uniting and making joint efforts on the foreign policy track to resist the attempts of sanctions and other external pressure on the CIS.
The Belarusian minister of foreign affairs stressed that the situation when the West arrogates to itself the right to speak on behalf of the entire world community and puts an equal sign between its interests and the rest of the planet, has no prospects. In this context, the need to strengthen the unity and cohesion of the CIS countries in international organizations, especially the UN, is increasing.
Vladimir Makei once again drew the attention of his counterparts and expressed hope that the CIS would support Belarus' initiative to hold a broad-based international dialogue on security issues in the spirit of San Francisco.
At the end of the meeting the ministers approved and signed a package of documents in a number of areas of the CIS operation, including in the fight against corruption, terrorism and extremism, and in humanitarian, military, sports, and youth cooperation.
A decision was made on the sidelines of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council to establish a Commission of CIS Commissioners for Children's Rights (ombudsmen), and the relevant regulation was approved.
The ministers approved the draft decisions of the CIS Heads of State Council on granting the CIS an observer status in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, on a new version of the regulation on the CIS Commission on Human Rights and on a draft protocol on amendments to the CIS Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 26 May 1995.
The CIS foreign ministers approved the plan of multilevel ministerial consultations for 2023, which includes an initiative of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hold consultations on urgent issues of cooperation with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
It was decided that the next session of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council would take place in Tashkent on 14 April 2023.
