MINSK, 29 March (BelTA) – The Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will expand cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Permanent Authorized Representative of Belarus in the CIS charter and other bodies Marina Dolgopolova told journalists, BelTA has learned.
The schedule of activities for 2021-2022 to implement the memorandum on advancing cooperation between the EEC and the CIS Executive Committee of 27 November 2018 is on the agenda of the joint meeting of the CIS Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives at the CIS charter and other bodies and the Commission on Economic Affairs at the CIS Economic Council on 29 March. The meeting will be held via videoconferencing and will be hosted by the CIS Executive Committee from Minsk.
“Of course, aligning the integration processes within the CIS and the EAEU is an important matter. The CIS and the EAEU have similar avenues of future economic development. The effectiveness of the multilevel integration and prevention of legal conflicts that can cause problems for businesses and citizens mostly depends on effective cooperation between the CIS Executive Committee and the EEC. This cooperation will be in focus of today's meeting,” Marina Dolgopolova said.
According to her, joint meetings of the Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives and the Commission on Economic Affairs are very important, “because they help us adopt harmonized approaches and vision of our goals. One of these goals is to use the capacities of sectoral cooperation bodies to the full extent. We are set to consider this topic at the joint meeting, as it is one of the priorities of Belarus' presidency in the CIS. There are 66 sectoral cooperation bodies that oversee international cooperation in almost all areas. The majority of documents adopted within the framework of the CIS are proposed and drawn up with active participation of sectoral cooperation bodies,” Marina Dolgopolova noted.
The participants of the joint meeting will also take stock of the performance of the CIS sectoral cooperation bodies in 2020 and hear a report on the activities of the CIS Regional Communications Association and the CIS Coordinating Council on Informatization at association. “The development of cooperation in communications and informatization, creating and developing the information society within the framework of these sectoral bodies is another priority of Belarus' presidency in the CIS,” Marina Dolgopolova said.
It is expected that the meeting will approve the roadmap to implement the initiatives voiced by the heads of delegations during the meetings of the CIS Council of Heads of State (18 December 2020) and the CIS Ministerial Council (10 December 2020). “This is the first such document we are set to approve. The draft roadmap comprises more than 40 initiatives aimed at boosting cooperation in economy, politics, humanitarian affairs, and security,” she added.
The meeting will also draw up a draft agenda of the meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government due in Minsk on 28 May and discuss the status of preparations for the next meeting of the CIS Ministerial Council due in Moscow on 2 April.
