Lukashenko: CIS is going through hard times

"These days we often hear about new conflicts and hostilities on the post-Soviet space. More and more often we come across cynical comments of "well-wishers" who say that the CIS is useless," the Belarusian President said.
Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that the Belarusian side views the CIS as an important, useful and relevant interstate association that helps resolve the issues facing its member states.
"Maybe, sometimes important decisions are not made fast and synchronized enough. If it is really so, we need to work on it. However, it would be wrong to indiscriminately berate all our achievements," the Belarusian leader said.
According to the President, no matter what some people might say about the CIS, the advantages of this organization are obvious. It was the CIS that gave citizens of the Commonwealth an opportunity to travel freely within the CIS. It was mainly due to the CIS that the member states established regular contacts between their border, customs, rescue and other agencies. "Keeping in mind our goal to improve the well-being of people, we put a lot of effort into expanding economic cooperation. Businessmen appreciated the CIS free trade agreement. The work on the free trade agreement on services is in full swing," the Belarusian head of state said.
"Finally, if not the CIS, could we today discuss multi-level integration? No, we could not," the President said. He pointed out that it was the CIS that laid a foundation for the Eurasian Economic Community, the Single Economic Space and the Eurasian Economic Union. In his view, the CIS' role here is distinct and clear.
The Belarusian head of state noted that the CIS serves a basis for political and economic cooperation, where each member state can choose a cooperation field it is most interested in.