On October 9, 2026, the CIS Heads of State Council held a regular meeting, chaired by President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, in the Avaza National Tourist Zone in Turkmenistan.
The meeting was attended by:
- President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev;
- Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan;
- President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko;
- President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev;
- President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov;
- President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin;
- President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon;
- President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev;
- Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Independent States Sergey Lebedev.
In a restricted format, the heads of state exchanged views on current issues related to cooperation within the Commonwealth. They also decided that Uzbekistan would assume the CIS chairmanship in 2027, with Turkmenistan and, for the first time, Azerbaijan serving as co-chairs.
The participants of the expanded session were welcomed by President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, who was attending the meeting in the CIS Plus format for the first time, and President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev as the incoming Chair of the CIS Council of Heads of State.
SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev took part in the summit as an observer.
The participants discussed and adopted the Statement by the CIS Heads of State on the 35th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The Statement notes that the Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (in Russian) and the Alma-Ata Declaration (in Russian) laid the foundation for preserving historical ties between the nations and paved the way for a new model of development based on mutually beneficial cooperation and stronger friendly and good-neighbourly relations among the states founded on sovereign equality.
The countries’ decision to pool their efforts and resources has fully justified itself. Over the past decades, the Commonwealth has demonstrated its continued relevance and potential as a flexible and well-established mechanism for multilateral cooperation against a backdrop of increasingly complex international processes, the emergence of new regional and global centres of influence and the declining effectiveness of many global multilateral mechanisms and instruments.
Natalia Bocharova, the Secretary-General of the International Organisation for the Russian Language, briefed the CIS Heads of State Council members on the organisation’s activities.
The leaders signed the decisions declaring 2028 the Year of Social Development and Quality of Life and 2029 the Year of CIS Transport Connectivity.
The initiative to designate 2028 as the Year of Social Development and Quality of Life was put forward by the Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic. Its implementation will strengthen the CIS member states cooperation in promoting social support for the population, developing active measures in the labour market, and improving citizens’ welfare and quality of life.
The proposal to designate 2029 as the Year of CIS Transport Connectivity was put forward by Turkmenistan. This initiative logically follows on from the objectives of the Concept for Turkmenistan’s Chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2026 and the Action Plan for its implementation.
The Council members approved measures to promote a positive image of the Commonwealth of Independent States and its member states in the information space.
The meeting decided to conduct the 2030 round of population censuses in the CIS member states. The governments of the CIS member states will take measures to support the World Population and Housing Census Programme.
The CIS Council of Heads of Statistical Services is to coordinate and approve in 2027 the list of socio-economic and migration indicators to be included in the national population census programmes in order to ensure the comparability of the main census results across the CIS region.
The summit participants also adopted amendments to the Agreement on Cooperation among the CIS Member States in Combating Crimes in the Field of Information Technologies, the Regulation on the Coordination Council of Prosecutors General, and the Second Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Transfer of Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment for Further Punishment.
The members of the Heads of State Council approved the Fundamentals of Information Policy in the Border Security Sphere. The document was developed on the basis of the Programme for Cooperation among the CIS Member States in Strengthening Security at the External Borders for 2021–2025.
The implementation of the Fundamentals will enable the CIS member states to develop and refine their information policies through the use of international legal instruments to implement the coordinated border policy.
In addition, the Council decided to award the Certificate of Honour of the Commonwealth of Independent States to Tahir Iksanov, the Executive Director of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation, for his major contribution to the development of cultural and humanitarian cooperation as well as strengthening of friendship and cooperation among the CIS member states. The same award is to be presented to Victor Popov, the Directorate Chairman of the Council for Railway Transport, for his active efforts to strengthen and develop the CIS.
The next meeting of the CIS Heads of State Council will be held in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, in October 2027.