The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and is its legal successor. It covers an area of 20,368,759 km2 (7,864,422 sq mi) and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. The CIS encourages cooperation in economic, political, and military affairs and has certain powers relating to the coordination of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security, including cross-border crime prevention.
The Secretariat, officially the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a body serving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Politburo and Standing Committee. The secretariat is mainly responsible for carrying out routine operations of the Politburo and coordinating organizations and stakeholders to achieve tasks set out by the Politburo. It is empowered by the Politburo to make routine day-to-day decisions on issues of concern in accordance with the decisions of the Politburo, but it must consult the Politburo on substantive matters.
A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service.
The All-Russian Central Executive Committee was a permanent body formed by the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, then became the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in between sessions of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets from 1917 to 1937. In 1937, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was replaced with the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR.
A director general, general director or director-general is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution. The term is commonly used in many countries worldwide, but with various meanings.
The Economic Court of the Commonwealth of Independent States is a judicial organ which was formed in order to provide exercising of its economic commitments by the participating states. The Court is empowered to consider the disputes in the fulfillment of economic commitments in accordance with international treaties within the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Court considers other disputes under the agreement of the participating states. It is also empowered to interpret international treaties and the acts of the CIS bodies. The location of the Economic Court is the city of Minsk, Republic of Belarus.
Sergey Nikolayevich Lebedev is a Russian politician who has been the General Secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) since 2007. He had previously been General of the Army in the Russian Armed Forces and Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) from 2000 to 2007.
Myechyslaw Ivanavich Hryb is a Belarusian politician who was the eleventh Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus from 28 January 1994 to 10 January 1996. In his capacity as the head of state, Hryb adopted the first Constitution of Belarus. He succeeded Stanislav Shushkevich and was head of state from 28 January to 20 July 1994 until Alexander Lukashenko replaced him in the new office called President of Belarus, which became the new head of state office. He continued as a parliamentary speaker. Hryb is now a politician in the opposition and a member of the Social-Democratic Party.
The Interstate Aviation Committee is an executive body of the Civil Aviation and Airspace Use Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and was formed in 1991 according to the Civil Aviation and Airspace Use Multilateral Agreement, signed on 25 December 1991.
Joint CIS Air Defense System is a unified system that comprises air defense units and elements of the former Soviet republics under control of the Coordination Committee on Air Defense of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS. Currently there are 6 de facto members of JADS: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. 70% of all expenditures of the military budget of the Commonwealth of Independent States are directed to the improvement and development of this system.
The Council of Ministers of Defense of the CIS is a working body in the Commonwealth of Independent States responsible for military policy of the CIS. It coordinates military cooperation of the CIS member states, and develops military and defense policy of the CIS.
The Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States is a parliamentary assembly for delegations from the national parliaments of the member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) established in 1992.
Dauren Askerbekuly Abaev is a Kazakh politician, who served as a Minister of Culture and Sports from 2022 to 2023. Since March 2023, Deputy Secretary General of the CIS. Since July 2023, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Russian Federation.
The Council of Heads of State of the CIS, abbreviated in the Russian language as the SGG (СГГ), is a working body in the Commonwealth of Independent States. It serves as the supreme body of the CIS, and includes all the chief of state of CIS member states. Regular meetings of the council are held annually. It was created following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, directly replacing the State Council of the Soviet Union. As of 2020 there are 9 members of the CIS: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan is an associate state of the CIS.
Lieutenant General Ilya Veldzhanovich Veldzhanov was a Soviet-Turkmen politician and diplomat, as well as a Belarusian public figure. He is the first Turkmen general in the Soviet Armed Forces and the first Lieutenant general of the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan.
Relations between Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are multilateral international relations between a third state and a supranational organization.
The Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area is an international agreement on the intention to create a free trade regime in goods signed by 12 post-Soviet states on 15 April 1994, at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of Heads of State in Moscow and entered into force on December 30, 1994. Article 1 indicated that this was "the first stage of the creation of the Economic Union", but on 2 April 1999 the countries agreed to remove this phrase from the agreement. Article 17 also confirmed the intention to conclude a free trade agreement in services.
The Agreement on Free Trade in Services, Establishment, Operations and Investment is an international agreement on the creation a free trade regime in services and investment signed by 7 post-Soviet states namely Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on 8 June 2023, at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Sochi, Russia to partly integrate Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on the common standards of the WTO and the EAEU even without their membership in the WTO (Uzbekistan) or the EAEU. It entered into force for Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Tajikistan on 5 June 2024. It entered into force for Russia on 24 July 2024. On 14 October 2024, Armenia notified of its ratification of the Agreement and it enters into force for Armenia on 13 November 2024.
Eurasian economic integration is the process of economic integration of post-Soviet states which are geographically located in the center of the continent of Eurasia. Eurasian integration has been taking shape since 1991, originally via the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991, as noted in the World Trade Organization report. Currently, integration is primarily implemented through organizations that are open to accession by any post-Soviet countries, such as the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Eurasian Economic Union. An economic union means the deepest stage of economic integration.
The Common Economic Space is the goal and the result of the process of economic integration of post-Soviet states envisaged by the Article 7 of the Agreement on the creation the Commonwealth of Independent States signed on 8 December 1991. According to Article 7, the High Contracting Parties indicate that through common coordinating institutions, their joint activities will consist in coordinating foreign policy activities, cooperation in the formation and development of a common economic space, common European and Eurasian markets, in the field of customs policy, in the development of transport and communication systems, cooperation in the field of environmental protection, migration policy and the fight against organized crime.
