CIS PMs to discuss common budget, air defense network

MINSK. Aug 29 (Interfax) - Drafting a common budget for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and financing the CIS air defense network in 2024 will be discussed at a meeting of CIS prime ministers in Bishkek, CIS Secretary-General Sergei Lebedev said on Tuesday.

"The CIS prime ministers will gather in Bishkek on October 27. We have elaborated the core agenda. It will include traditional economic and humanitarian issues, as well as funding for CIS bodies. In particular, financial matters will take up a greater part of the agenda. Eleven issues relate to the drafting of a CIS common budget for next year, financing the Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund, and financing the CIS air defense network in 2024," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lebedev as saying.

The CIS prime ministers will be invited to consider several joint programs, Lebedev said. "This includes a program of events for 2024 as the Year of the Volunteer Movement. The plan is essentially ready, and we hope it will be approved. A plan of events related to the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War will be proposed to the heads of government for approval. This date will be observed in 2025. The heads of state have decided to declare 2025 the CIS Year of the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. All members of the CIS, whose peoples took part in the struggle against fascism, will host important events dedicated to this date," Lebedev said.