Sergei Lavrov holds meeting with CIS Foreign Ministers

The foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a grouping of former Soviet republics, will meet in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss reform of the organization ahead of this week's summit, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Reforming of the Commonwealth of Independent States will be one of the main topics of a meeting of the Council of Heads of the CIS Foreign Ministries. It will be held in Moscow under the chairmanship of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"The agenda includes over 15 issues." "The most important topic will be improvement and reforming of the CIS bodies," representatives of the ministry is quoted as saying by Itar-Tass.

"Debates on this issue, which were started at the meeting of Council in Astana in September last year, will be crowned with the preparation of a document summing up proposals of the countries-partners." "We hope that a compromise on a draft decision to be approved at a SIC summit in Kazan will be found."

The ministers will also focus on humanitarian and social issues. "Consideration of a draft agreement on humanitarian cooperation of the CIS countries, formulating directions, principles and forms of long-term interaction, will be the most important one,» representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry informed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host the leaders of the 11 other CIS member-states in the Volga River city of Kazan on Friday.

Photo by BBC.