Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today participated in a regular session of the CIS Council of Heads of State in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The event was attended by the Presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkmenistan.

The session started with a narrow format sitting, after which the discussions continued in an expanded format. The Summit first summarized this year’s cooperation results, and discussed the main vectors of future cooperation.

Particular attention was paid to the ongoing preparations for the Great Patriotic War Victory 75th Anniversary celebrations in 2020. A decision was made to issue a 75-anniversary jubilee medal.

A number of documents on multilateral cooperation were signed during the meeting. A decision was also made to transfer the CIS presidency to Turkmenistan in 2019.

The Council issued a statement on the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The meeting decided that Tajikistan should be the host country for the CIS Cultural Capital in 2021. 2021 was proclaimed to be the Year of Architecture and Urban Development in the CIS.

The 2019-2023 Intergovernmental Program for Combating Crime was approved, and a treaty between the CIS-member States on fight against crime in the sphere of information technologies was signed at the Summit.

Changes have been made to the Rules of Procedure of the Council of Defense Ministers of CIS-member States along with amendments to the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center regulations. The next CIS Summit will be held in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat on October 11, 2019. The protocols on the decisions passed at the Summit were signed during the meeting.

During the narrow-format panel sitting, Prime Minister Pashinyan attached importance to the enhancement of cooperation within the CIS and the strengthening of ties in different directions. The head of the Armenian government pointed out that the CIS potential has not yet been tapped in full in terms of regional cooperation, and appropriate steps need to be taken to that effect.

“It will promote the competitiveness of national economies, raise the citizens’ welfare, develop humanitarian ties and strengthen human contacts,” Nikol Pashinyan emphasized.

Touching upon the Great Patriotic War Victory 75th Anniversary celebrations in 2020, the Premier said that May 9 will forever remain as the symbol of unshakable courage and unity of our peoples who fought side by side on the battlefield, waging a selfless struggle to save the world from the threat of Nazism.

“The Armenian nation has a special attitude for this Victory. Half the Armenian conscripts never returned to their homes from the appalling war. More than 70 thousand Armenian servicemen were awarded military diplomas and medals; over one hundred Armenian military were conferred upon the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The festive day of May 9, as well as the memory of the fallen calls on all of us to mark the 75th Anniversary with due ceremony, as well as to counter the attempts of rewriting history, making heroes of Nazi militants and propagating neo-Nazism,” the Prime Minister said.

Nikol Pashinyan underscored the importance of the statement adopted on the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

“The CIS is promoting cooperation in the economy and innovation, cultural and humanitarian spheres. In this respect, I would like to inform you that Yerevan will host the World IT Forum in 2019, which is to become an important platform for developing in practice scientific ties between representatives of different countries. We expect the representatives of our CIS partner countries to take an active part in this important event,” the Premier said, adding that Armenia is keen to build and develop humanitarian ties.