Friday, 22 May 2009
RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan-led delegation arrived in Astana, the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Set to attend a regular session of CIS Council of Heads of Government, the delegation includes Chief of Government Staff David Sargsyan, Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan, Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, Armenian Ambassador to Belarus Oleg Yesayan, Republic of Armenia Plenipotentiary Representative in CIS Economic Commission Council on Economic Affairs Artak Vardanyan, other dignitaries.
In line with the established tradition, the heads of government delegations were received by President Noursultan Nazarbayev, the leader of the host State.
During a meeting held at the Palace of Independence in a narrow format, the prime ministers discussed over a dozen of issues relating to member-States’ cooperation inclusive of joint anti-crisis action.
The heads of government approved the plan of action on the implementation of first-stage measures (2009-2011) under the CIS Economic Development Strategy up to 2020, the joint action plan to establish a unified accounting system (EAS) of third-country citizens and persons without citizenship to enter the territory of the CIS member states, the 2009-2010 action plan for developing a common educational space and CIS-member States’ cooperation in the field of education and the draft action plan on adult education development concept. The meeting has similarly endorsed the priority humanitarian action plan for the period under review, including the measures to be carried out in Armenia.
The heads of government signed an intergovernmental agreement on exchange of information in the field of combating crime in member-States.
The prime ministers signed the following resolutions: “On giving the Russian Association of International Automobile Carriers a status of base organization in the area of follow-up training of international automobile carriers operating in member-States, “On continued search for those servicemen reported missing during the 1979-1989 military operations carried out in Afghanistan, including the search for burial sites, exhumation, remains identification and repatriation, “On the procedure to follow in designing and fabricating a uniform jubilee medal dedicated to the 65th anniversary the victory had in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.”
Then, the meeting discussed a number of financial issues, including the member-States’ outstanding contributions to the single budget of CIS agencies and the findings of financial and economic activity audits carried out in 2008.
Finally, an organizational agenda has been discussed. It was decided to hold the next meeting of heads of government during this November in Ukraine.
The meeting was followed by a joint press conference.
After the press conference, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan met with his Kazakh counterpart Karim Massimov.
The parties discussed a bilateral cooperation-related agenda. They said to be pleased with the recently activated contacts, evidenced by the third session of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic affairs, which was held last May in Yerevan. The interlocutors concurred in that if implemented successfully, the agreements reached at said session will foster mutually advantageous cooperation and the deepening of ties between our two friendly countries. In conclusion, the parties discussed ways to deal with the global financial and economic crisis jointly.
Later today the Prime Minister-led government delegation will be back to Yerevan.
