The Prime Minister of Belarus proposed to hold the first forum of regions of the CIS countries

Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko has made a proposal to hold the first forum of regions of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states.

"I would like to emphasize the importance of expanding interregional economic cooperation in the CIS space. We believe that this would be facilitated by holding the first forum of regions of the CIS countries," he said on December 12 in Moscow at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the commonwealth.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who is chairing the meeting, supported the proposal.

"We have a lot of bilateral relations of our regions, and how many border friendly ties our partner regions have established in this sense. So let's think about it," he said.

According to Mishustin, Russia is always ready to present its candidacy for the forum of regions. At the same time, he noted that the event could be held in Belarus, as the initiative belongs to his Belarusian colleague.

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In what areas cooperation between the regions of Russia and Kazakhstan is developing

Earlier in the day, CIS Secretary General Sergei Lebedev said that the next meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States is proposed to be held on May 30, 2025 in Dushanbe. According to his information, the leadership of Tajikistan has already agreed to hold the meeting.

Before that, on November 26 and 27, Ufa hosted the anniversary XX Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan. Its theme was the realization of the potential of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Kasym-Jomart Tokayev, who held talks in Astana, took part in the plenary session of the forum via video link.