The informal meeting of the heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) took place in Russia’s St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
The informal CIS meeting held on the initiative of the Russian President Vladimir Putin gathered President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The Turkmen Foreign Ministry in its statement on the meeting said the CIS Leaders discussed topical issues on the agenda, primarily the implementation of partnership in the political and diplomatic, trade and economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres. The Heads of State summed up the results of 2021.
The summit participants also discussed cooperation in healthcare and medical industry. In this context, there was an exchange of views on joint measures taken to prevent further spread of COVID-19, cooperation of the CIS countries in this direction, as well as regular exchange of experience between the medical communities of the countries in preventing and combating coronavirus infection.
President Putin also invited the Head of the Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova to speak at the summit and inform about further work to combat the coronavirus.