Belarus may assume CIS presidency in 2013, Lebedev says

MINSK, 18 May (BelTA) – Belarus may assume the CIS presidency in 2013, said Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee – Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev. The CIS official is attending the session of the CIS council of plenipotentiaries.

He noted that Uzbekistan and Ukraine abstained from taking up the CIS presidency due to objective reasons.

The candidature of the CIS presiding country will be discussed during the consultations in the next few months. “As far as I know several states are ready to perform this function but that is the issue to be deliberated,” he said.

Sergei Lebedev noted that the issue of Belarusian presidency in the CIS had been discussed with Belarusian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich and yet to be considered with Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov. “It is possible that Belarus will assume 2013 CIS presidency but this will depend, first of all, on the decision made by the country’s leadership,” Sergei Lebedev emphasized.