COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
On 8 December 1991 in Viskuli, the residence of the Belarusian Government in Belovezhskaya forest preserve, the leaders of the Republic of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine have signed the Agreement on establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
On 21 December 1991 in Alma-Ata the heads of eleven sovereign states (except the Baltic states and Georgia) have signed the Protocol to the above Agreement, in which they stressed that the Azerbaijan Republic, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Republic of Uzbekistan and Ukraine on equality basis established the Commonwealth of Independent States. The participants of the meeting have unanimously adopted the Alma-Ata Declaration, which confirmed the devotion of the former union republics to cooperation in various fields of external and internal policies, and announced the guarantees for implementation of international commitments of the former Soviet Union. later, in December 1993 the Commonwealth was joined by Georgia. Thus, at present the CIS comprises 12 young sovereign states - former soviet republics.
The CIS performs its activities on the basis of the Charter, adopted by the Council of Heads of States on 22 January 1993, which stipulates the goals and principles of the Commonwealth, rights and obligations of the countries, which established it voluntarily.
In the document they stated, that the Commonwealth was formed on the basis of sovereign equality of all its members and that the member states were independent and equal subjects of the international law. The CIS, the Charter stated, serves further development and strengthening of relations of friendship, good neighborhood, inter-ethnic accord, trust and mutual understanding and cooperation between states.
The Commonwealth is not a state, it does not have supranational powers. In September 1993 the heads of states signed the Treaty on establishment of the Economic Union, in which they developed the concept of transformation of economic interaction within the Commonwealth, taking into consideration the current realities. The Treaty was based on the necessity of formation of the common economic space on the principles of free movement of goods, services, workers, capitals; elaboration of concerted money and credit, tax, price, customs and foreign economic policies; rapprochement of the methods of management of economic activities, creation of favorable conditions for development of direct production links.
Countries’ interaction within the CIS is accomplished through its coordinating institutions: Council of Heads of State, Council of Heads of Government, Councils of Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers, Border Troops Commanders, Interparliamentary assembly, Executive Committee, the latter being legal successor of the Executive Secretariat, and the Interstate Economic Committee of the Economic Union, etc.
