On the second day of his working trip to Sochi Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will take part in the session of the Council of the CIS Heads of Governments which will be chaired by Kyrgyzstan in 2023.
This will be the first meeting this year. The previous such a meeting was held in October 2022 in Astana.
Meeting agenda
As the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers reported, the participants of the meeting will discuss a wide range of issues of trade and economic cooperation. Special attention will be paid to the deepening of cooperation in industry, nuclear energy, digital and humanitarian spheres.
During the meeting several documents are planned to be signed, particularly the Agreement on free trade in services, establishment, activities and investments. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously noted that the agreement will promote the liberalization of trade in the Commonwealth, and Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov called this document a milestone in the history of economic cooperation in the CIS.
Besides, the participants of the meeting will adopt a memorandum on cooperation in combating fraud on telecommunications networks, approve the concept of industrial cooperation with the corresponding set of measures until 2030, and a plan of measures for the management of waste electronic and electrical equipment to minimize the negative impact on the environment. International agreements will also be signed at the meeting, in particular on the exchange of data on the monitoring of the radiation situation and on the issue of documenting the persons to be expelled with return certificates.
Some personnel decisions are also to be made. Thus, it is planned to consider the appointment of senior officials of the CIS Executive committee and deputy heads of the Commonwealth Anti-Terrorist center.
In addition, the prime ministers will discuss and clarify the mechanism of formation of the main target macroeconomic indicators of the economies, monitoring of the socio-economic situation and the dynamics of the economic development of the CIS countries.
Some issues on the meeting agenda relate to the cultural and humanitarian spheres. In particular, the heads of governments are going to launch the practice of the CIS countries Spartakiads among children with disabilities and decide on choosing the youth capitals of the Commonwealth for the next three years. As it is stated in the materials of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers, Tashkent (Uzbekistan) will become such a city in 2024, Gabala (Azerbaijan) in 2025, and Kapan (Armenia) in 2026.
First day of the trip
On Wednesday, the Russian prime minister attended a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in a narrow format, spoke at the opening of the II Youth Forum of CIS and EEU and held bilateral meetings.
At the meeting of the Intergovernmental Council, he drew attention to the fact that Russia, presiding in 2023 in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), prioritizes such issues as strengthening food security, technological capacity and transport development. At the same time the main goal for the Russian Federation is to ensure the progressive development of the union in all directions, taking into account the interests of each country, Mishustin said. Under the current conditions, said the head of the Russian cabinet, it is particularly important for the EEU countries to work as a team and make and implement decisions quickly. That, he said, is what citizens and representatives of business circles from the "five" states, as well as international partners interested in cooperation, are waiting for.
At the meeting with Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz bilateral cooperation was discussed. Mishustin noted that Russia attaches great importance to the implementation of major joint projects, including those aimed at increasing oil recovery at Cuban oil fields, modernization of Havana metallurgical plant. He also drew attention to the fact that despite unfavorable external conditions mutual trade turnover between the two countries increased nine times in the first four months of 2023. In his turn, the prime minister of Cuba stated that strengthening of relations between the two countries "is the right way" and emphasized that Cuba condemns the attempts of the West to isolate Russia from various international forums.
With his Belarusian counterpart Roman Golovchenko, the Russian prime minister spoke about taking necessary measures to protect the market of the Union State and noted that interaction in the industry of the two countries was a priority in this regard.
Mishustin discussed Russian-Kyrgyz projects in the field of digital economy, transport, logistics, and agro-industrial cooperation with the head of the Kyrgyz Cabinet of Ministers, Akylbek Zhaparov, and pointed out that the development of such cooperation has great potential.
At a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Mishustin stressed that Moscow values its brotherly relations with Yerevan and confirmed its interest in launching new joint projects in the energy, mining, digitalization and agro-industrial complex.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of Rais RT
Based on materials from TASS