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CIS foreign ministers agreed to promote closer cooperation

“The ministers agreed a draft statement on preserving and strengthening the international drug control system,” the Russian Foreign Ministry reports

© EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

MOSCOW, April 04. /ITAR-TASS/. Foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed a number of draft statements and resolutions geared to promote closer cooperation between the CIS member states in various spheres, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday after a meeting of the Council of CIS Foreign Ministers.

“The ministers agreed a draft statement on preserving and strengthening the international drug control system. The document will be submitted to the CIS heads of states. The Council also supported a draft resolution on providing aid to Tajikistan to help it build up border security measure at the border with Afghanistan,” the ministry said.

“Attention was traditionally focused on the humanitarian component of the multi-lateral cooperation,” the ministry noted. “The CIS foreign ministers approved a number of important documents geared to promote the development of ties in the areas of education, healthcare, physical culture and sport.”

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Apart from that, the Council discussed draft documents aiming to improve collective response to natural and anthropogenic emergency situations, to promote partnership in the law enforcement and military spheres. Thus, the CIS foreign ministers considered the issue of the establishment of a reserve fund for aiding countries hit by natural and anthropogenic calamities. “They also discussed draft agreements on cooperation between engineering troops in demining activities, and on cooperation in the area of survey and navigation support of armed forces of the CIS member countries,” the Russian foreign ministry added.

The CIS foreign ministers took a decision to hand over presidency in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2014 to Belarus.

Apart from that, the ministers exchanged views on the most pressing problems of international and regional security, on issues of the foreign policy coordination within the Commonwealth of Independent States and cooperation in the framework of international organizations, including the United Nations Organization and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and on the situation in Ukraine.

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Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell confirmed that the US administration had lifted restrictions for US-supplied missiles to be used for strikes up to 300 kilometers inside Russia

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