COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
The heads of the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine signed an agreement on the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on December 8, 1991, in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
On December 21, 1991, in Alma-Ata, the heads of eleven sovereign states (except for Georgia) signed a protocol to this agreement, in which they emphasized that all the republics form the CIS on an equal basis. The participants of the meeting adopted the Alma-Ata Declaration that confirmed their commitment to cooperate in different areas of external and internal policy, and proclaimed the guarantees to fulfill international obligationsof the former Soviet Union.
Georgia joined the Commonwealth on December 1993, andwithdrewfrom theunionon August 18, 2009. Turkmenistan is an associate member of the CIS.
The Commonwealth of Independent States is not a state and does not possess supranational powers; it is based on sovereign equality of all its members and acts on the grounds of the Charter of January 22, 1993. Member Nations of the Commonwealth are autonomous and equal subjects of international law.
At present, S. Lebedev is a General Secretary of the CIS.
In line with the practice, there are annually one formal meeting and one informal meeting of the CIS Heads of State, two meetings of the CIS Heads of Government and two meetings of the Council of the CIS Foreign Ministers.
Structure:
Kazakhstan considers the Commonwealth of Independent States as a unique and universal dialogue platform uniting almost all countries of the post-Soviet space.
The participation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the activities of the CIS is aimed at developing cooperation with the states of the association in order to strengthen multilateral dialogue in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian fields, as well as in the field of security and countering new challenges and threats.
The Kazakh side is one of the most active member state in the CIS, strives to maintain high dynamics of interaction by making constructive and meaningful proposals in the work of the Commonwealth bodies.
In the period of 2016-2017 at the initiative of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the CIS carried out work to adapt the work of the Organization to modern realities.
As a result of the work carried out, the independence and responsibility of the activities of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the CIS Economic Council were strengthened by delegating them a number of powers of the highest statutory bodies of the organization. The total number of employees of the Commonwealth bodies and the CIS Interstate Statistical Committee has been reduced. The work of the CIS Economic Court has been transferred to the ad hoc format and the number of its staff has been reduced. A competitive recruitment mechanism has been introduced for CIS bodies financed from the Organization's unified budget. The Coordination Committee of Transport Corridors of the CIS was abolished.
Kazakhstan's principled approaches to the activities of the Commonwealth were further implemented during the chairmanship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the CIS in 2022.
In accordance with the Concept of Chairmanship approved by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan K.K.Tokayev, the focus of the Kazakh side was on improving the effectiveness of the CIS as a regional interstate organization, strengthening multifaceted cooperation at the Organization's site in the political, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as in ensuring security and stability.
The results of the work were highly appreciated by the heads of the CIS states at the Summit of the Organization on October 14, 2022 in Astana.
As a result of the CIS Summit, Kazakhstan's initiatives aimed at deepening cultural and humanitarian cooperation at the Commonwealth site, CIS interaction with other international organizations and states were supported and implemented.