ASHGABAT, May 24. /TASS/. Participants of the meeting of the CIS Council of heads of governments are united in their opinion that cooperation must continue in order to overcome the hardships, including the ones, caused by external pressure, CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev said.

"The today’s meeting of the Council was decidedly dominated by a single idea that we are much stronger together, that, together, we will be able to overcome any hardships - including in the economic and political areas. Together, we enrich each other by cooperating in the humanitarian area, in the cultural area. Therefore, we will continue this cooperation," he told reporters.

Lebedev noted that "positive decisions were made on all agenda points, which is very good."

"The foreign policy cooperation of the states proceeds, and rather actively, too, especially considering the sanctions, the illegal pressure, exerted by the collective West against the Commonwealth countries," the Secretary-General pointed out.

He praised the role of Turkmenistan, the host of the meeting, pointing out that a decision was made in regards to Ashgabat during the meeting.

"Under the initiative of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat was provided with the status of the City of new athletic opportunities. The heads of the delegations supported this decision and promised to provide maximum aid and to take part in all events, related to the implementation of this decision," Lebedev said.