Putin to attend Eurasian Economic Council and CIS summits in Minsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the summit of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk. His visit to Minsk will continue with the summit of heads of CIS members on October 25, ITAR-TASS reports.

His assistant Yuri Ushakov said that leaders of three states will discuss the formation of the Eurasian Economic Council on January 1, 2015, as well as the involvement of Armenia in the process. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan may join the talks. An expanded session will include Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, commenting on the possibility of Kyrgyzstan and Armenia joining the Customs Union, that other CIS states may consider joining the integration mechanism. He doubts that Armenia will join it in the near future.

Leaders of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and head of the Eurasian Economic Commission Victor Khristenko will meet media officials at the end of the summit.

This is the second summit of the Eurasian Council in Minsk. The first one was held in Astana on May 29. The third one will be held later this year.

Sergey Lebedev, head of the Executive Committee of the CIS, said that the agenda includes 14 issues, including security, economy, humanitarian cooperation.

2014 will be the Year of Tourism, 2015 the Year of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War coinciding with the 70th anniversary of victory. Every year since 2008 has been dedicated to a certain event. 2012 was the Year of Sport and Health, 2013 is the Year of Ecological Culture and Environment.

Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Osh (Kyrgyzstan) will be the CIS cultural capitals of 2014. Ulyanovsk and Gomel had that status in 2011, Astana and Maram in 2012, Qabala, Gyumri and Mogilev in 2013.

Russia initiated signing of the agreement on formation of the Interstate Council for Corruption Control. Programs to combat crime, terrorism, drug trafficking and human trafficking are expected to be signed.