CIS Heads of Government Council meeting agenda discussed in Minsk

A regular meeting of the Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives of the CIS member states to the organization’s statutory bodies and other bodies took place in Minsk. The event began with a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial sign To the Victims of Chernobyl in the capital’s Peoples’ Friendship Park. “We have paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident response. A man-made catastrophe occurred forty years ago, and throughout this time, we have been working to mitigate its consequences. Belarus has taken concrete measures to eliminate negative factors and bring lands back into productive use,” CIS First Deputy Secretary General Igor Petrishenko said. He also noted that the Ukrainian side has suspended its interaction within the CIS framework, and practical cooperation on mitigating the consequences of the Chernobyl accident is currently not being carried out.

The CIS permanent representatives visited the Emergencies Ministry’s Educational Center for Life Safety, where they got to know about the center’s operations. The meeting of the CIS permanent representatives also took place there, with one of the agenda items being the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident and the implementation of measures to mitigate its consequences. The outcomes of the events held in the CIS in 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War – the Year of Peace and Unity in the Fight Against Nazism – were reviewed. “In addition, during today’s meeting, we heard a report on the outcomes of the recent CIS Foreign Ministers Council meeting in Moscow, the implementation of the documents adopted at that meeting, and the initiatives put forward,” Igor Petrishenko emphasized.

The meeting also considered preparations for the upcoming session of the CIS Heads of Government Council, scheduled for 22 May in Ashgabat. “The agenda will be discussed. Currently, it includes 12 items, covering various areas of economic cooperation and ways to enhance interaction within the CIS framework. We also heard a report on the performance of the CIS Railway Transport Council. In 2025, international traffic within the CIS accounted for over 10.5 million passengers. That is why it was important to discuss the prospects for the development of railway transport in the CIS member states,” the CIS first deputy secretary general noted.

Council members also reviewed the implementation of the 2023-2025 CIS member state program on cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism.