Thursday, 25 May 2006
Today a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government has been held in Dushanbe, which was attended by Republic of Armenia Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister of Tajikistan Akil Akilov. In his opening remarks, Mr. Akilov referred to the social and economic status and long-term programs of his country, the areas and possibilities for eventual cooperation to the benefit of all member States, inclusive of the social, innovation, humanitarian and investment policies. Mr. Akilov stressed that the CIS had vast development potential, only part of which was being used at the moment.
Proceeding to the meeting agenda, the heads of government have discussed issues concerning the cooperation in a wide array of sectors. In particular, the prime ministers have taken decisions regarding: the agreement on establishment of an interstate fund for humanitarian cooperation, exchange of TV programs and other materials on the 15th anniversary of CIS formation. The meeting took note of the report on activities of the CIS Interstate Council of Meteorology.
The meeting has also discussed a number of financial issues, concerning, in particular, the procedure to follow in estimating the quotas applicable to member States' contributions for the maintenance of CIS governing bodies and the shift to a unified system of remuneration for the entities financed from the single budget of CIS.
Also, the heads of government have signed over a dozen of previously agreed instruments on multilateral cooperation in different fields of activity, including: the project of the 2010 census round, a concept note on the development of education for adults in the member States, a concept note on the establishment of national databases and organization of information exchange between member States for the prevention and suppression of offences in the field of intellectual property, a concept note on the development of a social and medical framework for improvement of living standards and preventive disability care for war veterans, participants of local conflicts, peace-making operations and victims of terrorism in the CIS member for the period of 2006-2010, the program of key activities of cultural cooperation up till 2010 and so on.
Other decisions have been taken concerning in particular the granting of central organization's status to the Russian National Library and the Air-Force Engineering Academy after Prof. N. Zhoukovsky.
The Council of Heads of Government decided to liquidate the CIS Center of Private Law Research and Consultancy.
Then the meeting has discussed organizational matters: the next meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of Government was scheduled to be held in Minsk, in October 2006.
The meeting was followed by the joint press conference of heads of government, after which the prime ministers attended the official reception hosted by Tajikistan's Prime Minister Akil Akilov.
Later in the evening, Republic of Armenia Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan met with Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia, State Minister Georgy Baramidze.
The parties expressed satisfaction at the recent activation of bilateral contacts in various fields. They emphasized that at the head of the intergovernmental commissions on economic cooperation, the two Prime Ministers had helped address several outstanding problems and develop new projects in the areas of energy, transport communications and tourism, in particular.
Mr. Andranik Margaryan and Mr. Georgy Baramidze said to be pleased with the pace of work on border demarcation between the two States and mentioned that the next meeting of corresponding commissions was due to be held in Yerevan in the month of August.
The parties have also referred to the problems of Javakhk. Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan reiterated Armenia's willingness to support the Georgian authorities in the realization of complex measures aimed at infrastructure rehabilitation in Javakhk. With reference to the social tensions available in the local population, the interlocutors stressed the necessity of getting them involved in construction projects as much as possible bearing in mind that most of them were experienced in such activities. Mr. Margaryan said that at this stage, as decided by the two Prime Ministers, the Armenian side would render assistance with the refurbishment of a number of educational institutions. The modalities and the size of future assistance would be estimated only when the complex program of infrastructure rehabilitation was available to the Armenian side.
Mr. Baramidze briefed the Armenian Prime Minister on his country's approaches with regard to the CIS.
Later today, the Prime Minister-led government delegation will be back to Yerevan.
