DUSHANBE, May 4, Asia-Plus -- The 12th conference of CIS education ministers will open at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe today, at 11:00 a.m.    

According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), participants at the conference are expected to exchange views on expansion of cooperation in the field of vocational-technical education, secondary vocational (special) and higher vocational education, as well as outline ways of further expansion of cooperation between the CIS states in the field of education and science.  

The conference participants include education ministers from Tajikistan (Abdujabbor Rahmonov), Russia (Andrey Fursenko), Ukraine (Stanislav Nikolayenko), Armenia (Levon Mkrtchyan), Kyrgyzstan (Kynybek Osmonaliyev) as well Kazakhstan’s Education and Science Vice-Minister Farkhad Kurganov and the CIS Council for Education Cooperation head Vasily Strazhev and Belarus State University official Gennady Dylyan.  

Vera Mozharova and Ibod Rahimov, officials with the Integration Committee of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC), and Nikolai Kuzmich, an official with CIS Executive Committee’s department for political and humanitarian cooperation, are also taking part at the conference.   

The conference is aiming to consider a draft model classifier of vocations, specialties and qualifications of the CIS states.  The source at a MoE said that the draft classifier had been projected under the interstate program for implementation of the concept of formation of the single education space within the CIS area.  

“The draft classifier is intended for tackling many problems that have resulted from differences in education systems of the CIS states,” the source said.

The conference will also consider proposals on projecting draft agreements on procedure of exchange of students, teachers and researchers, as well as further training of lecturers with higher educational institutions.  

Participants at the meeting also have to discuss a project for the establishment of International Institute of the CIS Languages at Moscow State Linguistic University and the issues of granting a status of basic organization for further training of the CIS personnel on new directions of development of technics and technologies and granting a status of basic organization for raising professionalism of the CIS forestry personnel to Belarus State Technological University.