Ensuring economic self-sufficiency and flexibility in integration is a priority for the further development of the Commonwealth of Independent States. This is stated in greetings from CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev to participants in the international scientific and practical conference entitled “The CIS: Areas and Prospects for Development”, held in Dushanbe.
Valentina Komleva, Deputy Director for Research at the National Research Institute of Communication Development, delivered the message on behalf of Sergey Lebedev. It states that the CIS Executive Committee has identified three key priorities for the Commonwealth’s development.
“Economic self-sufficiency. We are actively implementing the second stage of the CIS Economic Development Strategy until 2030. Our common goal is to eliminate all remaining barriers to mutual trade, develop shared transport and logistics corridors, and strengthen our countries’ technological sovereignty,” the message states.
The second priority is flexibility in integration.
“The CIS does not isolate itself. We are actively developing dialogue with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The introduction of the CIS observer and partner statuses, as well as the CIS Plus format, opens up new avenues for interaction with friendly countries,” Sergey Lebedev notes.
“The third priority is preserving human potential. The economy is built around people. Cultural and humanitarian cooperation, together with joint projects in healthcare, education and youth policy, binds our peoples together far more strongly than any declarations,” the Secretary-General’s message states.
Sergey Lebedev emphasises that the world is currently undergoing a major transformation amid increasingly complex global competition.
“In these circumstances, seeking stability and security alone is futile. Time has shown that the CIS is a solid foundation and a supporting pillar of Eurasian integration as a whole. Our format provides the broadest and safest framework for political dialogue and the launch of joint projects,” the CIS Secretary-General’s message states.
About the Conference
The international scientific and practical conference “The CIS: Areas and Prospects for Development” brought together representatives of the scientific and expert communities, government bodies of Tajikistan and Russia, and diplomatic officials. It was organized by the Institute for the Study of Issues of Asian and European Countries of Tajikistan’s National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Institute of Communication Development.
The participants discussed political and economic aspects of the CIS’s development; regional and international security, including in the context of developments in Afghanistan; humanitarian, scientific and technological cooperation; and Russian-Tajik relations. They also discussed a draft document entitled “Expert Vision for the Development of the CIS”, which summarises approaches to improving the Commonwealth’s activities, outlines prospects for interstate cooperation, and puts forward proposals for further advancing integration.