CIS Ministerial Council opens in Ashgabat 4 December

The meeting is expected to debate the issues of humanitarian cooperation, documents on cooperation in culture, sports, tourism, and environment. Particular attention will be paid to deepening regional ties in the humanitarian field and provision of security.
The parties will discuss action plan in the field of humanitarian cooperation by 2013-2014, which should become a practical tool for the coordination of multilateral cooperation in culture, education, science, information, mass media, sports, healthcare, and tourism, BelTA reports.
The plan includes the activities dedicated to the main theme of the year 2013, which will be the Year of Environmental Culture and the Environment.
As was reported with reference to the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, the Belarusian delegation will put forward an initiative to prepare an agreement on environmental cooperation. The Belarusian initiative embraces the idea of restoring the Interstate Ecological Council to coordinate joint efforts to implement the decisions taken by the CIS supreme authorities.
The meeting of the CIS Ministerial Council will be held prior to a meeting of the CIS Council of the Heads of State, which is set to examine approximately twenty draft documents aimed at enhancing regional cooperation in economy and humanitarian field, security, and other areas. It is expected that Belarus will assume the chairmanship in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2013.