Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which was held in Minsk, Belarus on October 25.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko welcomed the CIS leaders at the Independence Palace.

The CIS presidents first had a meeting held with a restricted number of participants.

Prior to informing the presidents about the agenda of the summit, Lukashenko congratulated Ilham Aliyev on his confident victory in the October 9 presidential elections and wished him success in the top post.

President Aliyev thanked his Belarusian counterpart and other heads of state for their congratulations.

"I have to say that cooperation between our countries will be of paramount importance during my activity," the President said. "Our nations are linked with history, a common past, a heroic past, a joint struggle against fascism. Today we are linked by economic, political interests, and cooperation within the CIS is one of the main priorities of foreign policy for Azerbaijan. Certainly, Azerbaijan has always adhered to a principled position within the integration processes in the Commonwealth, a position directed at strengthening cooperation and development of multilateral and bilateral relations."

Addressing the event, the head of state also spoke of the Baku International Humanitarian Forum, which will be held in the Azerbaijani capital in the coming days.

"I would like to avail of the opportunity and again thank the representatives of CIS countries for active participation in the previous forums. I also hope for active participation of intellectuals and representatives of the scientific community in the forum. This is in line with our policy within strengthening ties in the humanitarian sphere, which is the basis for our cooperation," he said.

President Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan also pays much attention to the issues relating to economic cooperation and economic partnership.

"Azerbaijan's trade turnover with most of the CIS countries is increasing year on year, and its structure is improving. In other words, the humanitarian cooperation, the basis of our relations, also facilitates active interaction in the economic sphere," the President said.

The Azerbaijani president went on to say that the agenda of the meeting includes issues related to combating crime and terrorism.

"These issues are also important for us, and in general should be perceived by the entire world community from a common viewpoint, because today no country is capable of fully defending itself or comprehensively ensuring its security without active cooperation in the area of the fight against crime and terrorism. It is necessary to invigorate joint activities, step up the coordination between relevant services of our countries in order to ensure a safe future of our citizens," President Aliyev said.

The President said that Azerbaijan will further try to make its contribution to strengthening cooperation and good neighborhood relations among the CIS countries.

Other CIS leaders addressed the meeting as well.

Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted the importance of boosting integration processes among the CIS countries amid the global crisis.

Later, the CIS heads of state had an expanded meeting.

Speaking at the event, President Lukashenko said they would focus on a range of issues, including transport, energy, space industry, and nanotechnologies.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych highlighted projects to be implemented during his country's presidency in the CIS in 2014. The Ukrainian leader put forward a proposal to organize the next meeting of the Council of Heads of State in Kyiv next October.

Following the expanded meeting the heads of state and government signed a package of documents. In particular, the CIS leaders approved a decision aimed at countering terrorism and extremism for 2014-2018, programs on cooperation in countering terrorism and other violent forms of extremism for 2014-2016, cooperation in combating drug trafficking and drug addiction for 2014-2018, an interstate program of joint measures on fighting crime for 2014-2018 as well as an agreement on the establishment of the Interstate Council to combat corruption and a concept of cooperation on fighting crimes related to information technologies; a program of cooperation of CIS member states in fighting human trafficking for 2014-2018 was agreed as well.

Furthermore, the leaders adopted a declaration to announce 2015 as the Year of War Veterans in the CIS, as well as covered issues related to the establishment of common commemorative awards, honorary orders and commemorative medals.

The CIS heads of state also agreed to declare 2014 as the Year of Tourism in the CIS, which should contribute to initiating common coordination in the tourism sector of CIS member states.

Then the CIS leaders attended the groundbreaking ceremony of an alley of honorary guests of the Independence Palace.

The ceremony was followed by a dinner hosted by the chairman of the CIS Council of Heads of State, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in honor of the participants of the event.

The Azerbaijani president, who was in Minsk to attend the meeting of the CIS Council, has completed his visit.

President Aliyev was seen off by top Belarusian government officials at the Minsk National Airport.