An expanded meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of Government has opened in Chisinau (Moldova).
Before the start of the meeting, the CIS heads of government held a smaller meeting to discuss the effect of the global financial crisis on the economies of CIS countries.
The council’s meeting is chaired by Belarus’ Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky; Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is the co-chair of the council.
Nine prime ministers are attending the meeting: Tymoshenko, Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Artur Rasizade, Armenia’s Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian, Belarus’ Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Masimov, Kyrgyzstan’s Prime Minister Igor Chudinov, Moldova’s Prime Minister Zinaida Grechanaya, Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Akil Akilov.
The other participants in the meeting include Turkmenistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Muratgeldy Akmammedov, Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Kasymov, and the CIS’ Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev.
About 35 documents are expected to be considered at the meeting.
The main item on the agenda of the meeting is the strategy for economic development of the CIS until the year 2020.
The presidents of CIS countries have approved this strategy and instructed their governments to make a final decision on it after redrafting it.
The participants in the meeting will make a decision on the date and place of the next meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of Government.
The CIS heads of government met with Moldova’s President Vladimir Voronin before the start of the council’s meeting.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Tymoshenko traveled to Chisinau on Friday morning to attend the meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of Government.
Ukraine expects CIS heads of government to approve a strategy for economic development of the CIS at the November 14 meeting.
Belarus took over the presidency of the CIS from Ukraine during the meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of Government that took place in Minsk (Belarus) on May 23.
