DUSHANBE, December 3, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi has left for Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to attend the next meeting of the CIS Council of Foreign Ministers that will take place there on December 4.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, the foreign ministers are expected to discuss preparation for the next session of the CIS Council of the Heads of State that will be held in the Turkmen capital on December 5 and exchange views on a number of international issues being of mutual interest.

In all, more than 10 issues have been tabled to the agenda of the CIS foreign ministers’ meeting.

The most important document in the area of humanitarian cooperation is a draft decision on the celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.  According to the CIS Executive Committee, there are plans to institute an honorary order and a jubilee medal, “70 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.”

Among other documents in the humanitarian field is a draft action plan for 2013-2014 which comprises forums of creative intelligentsia, contests and festivals.  Over 30 international conferences, roundtables and seminars are envisaged for 2013 that will be announced the Year of Ecological Culture and the Environment in the CIS.

The agenda of the meeting also includes issues related to cooperation in protecting the environment and enhancing security.

Within its competence the CIS Foreign Ministers Council will consider a report on the activity of the CIS Council of the Heads of State and Public Television and Radio Companies.

During his stay in Ashgabat, Tajik foreign minister is expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the CIS nations.

The CIS is a loose association of states and in no way comparable to a federation, confederation or supranational union such as the European Union.  It is more comparable to the Commonwealth of Nations. Although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is aimed at being more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security.  It has also promoted cooperation on cross-border crime prevention.  Some of the members of the CIS have established the Eurasian Economic Community with the aim of creating a full-fledged common market. There are nine member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States