Commonwealth Of Independent States (CIS)

Foundation Date: December 8, 1991

Headquarters: The Republic of Belarus

Executive Secretaries: Sergei Lebedev

Member Countries: 12

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was established on December 8, 1991, and the leaders of the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine signed an agreement on its establishment. Two weeks later, on December 21, 1991, in the Alma-Ata chapter eleven sovereign states (except the Baltic states and Georgia, which became a member of the CIS in 1993) signed the Protocol to the Agreement in which they stressed that the Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine on equal footing form the Commonwealth of Independent States. The meeting unanimously adopted the Alma-Ata Declaration, reaffirming the commitment of the former Soviet republics to cooperate in various fields of foreign and domestic policy, and announced the guarantees of the fulfillment of international obligations of the former Soviet Union. Later, in December 1993, Georgia joined the Commonwealth.

August 18, 2008, the CIS Executive Committee received a note from the Foreign Ministry of Georgia to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States. At a meeting of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council in Bishkek on October 9, 2008, at the initiative of the Presidency of the Commonwealth of Kyrgyzstan, it was decided to technical Georgia's membership in the CIS, according to which Georgia's withdrawal from the Commonwealth will be held 12 months after written notice of the CIS Charter depositary. Thus, in accordance with the Charter of the CIS, on August 18, 2009, Georgia officially ceased to be a member of this international organization.

January 22, 1993, in Minsk at the CIS summit adopted the Charter of the Commonwealth. Ukraine did not sign it and Turkmenistan, which thus de jure are not states - members of the CIS, and can be attributed only to the states - founders and states - members of the Commonwealth. Turkmenistan at the Kazan summit of the CIS (26 August 2005) announced that it will participate in the Commonwealth as an "associate member".

Commonwealth of Independent States is the further development and strengthening of relations of friendship, good neighborliness, interethnic harmony, trust, mutual understanding, and mutually beneficial cooperation between states.

CIS Commonwealth objectives

In accordance with the Charter of the CIS Commonwealth objectives are as follows:

• Implementation of cooperation in political, economic, environmental, humanitarian, cultural, and other fields;
• Comprehensive and balanced economic and social development of the Member States in the framework of the Common Economic Space, interstate cooperation, and integration;
• Ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with generally recognized principles and norms of international law and OSCE documents;
• Cooperation between Member States in ensuring international peace and security, the implementation of effective measures to reduce armaments and military spending, the elimination of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, the achievement of general and complete disarmament;
• Assisting citizens of member states in free communication, contacts, and movement in the Commonwealth;
• Mutual legal assistance and cooperation in other spheres of legal relations;
• Peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts between states of the Commonwealth.