A meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was held today in the format of a videoconference with the participation of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. The CIS foreign ministers discussed joint efforts in the fight against coronavirus, as well as pressing regional and international agenda.

Commenting on the meeting, Stanislav Pritchin, Russian expert, head of the analytical group of the Center for Central Asian and Caucasus Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a researcher at the Royal Institute of International Relations of Great Britain Chatham House, told News.Az that the CIS is, in fact, a platform for dialogue and that with all the borders actually closed, but with a huge number of people left on different sides of the border, it is necessary to maintain a dialogue to resolve frozen issues.

"It is important that, at least at the level of foreign ministers, a dialogue should take place and measures should be discussed which would help to reduce those costs for the economies and people of the countries in the region.  At the same time, it is necessary to coordinate the reduction of those restrictions that exist in order not to worsen the situation with the spread of coronavirus in the future (second, third wave).

It is crucial to be in a dialogue, to exchange information about what measures are being taken and to propose some joint steps that may help to avoid or reduce negative consequences," he said.

News.Az