America News Agency

Russian President Putin addressed the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), held in Turkmenistan’s Avaza National Tourism Zone to mark the 35th anniversary of the CIS.

Putin said Russia supported the draft joint declaration prepared for the anniversary of the CIS, adding that the document assessed the organization’s key achievements and set out long-term goals for the future.

Putin said the CIS had become an important regional integration organization over the past 35 years. He said the organization had helped preserve the economic, social, cultural and humanitarian ties between the countries that had developed over centuries, while expanding them in some areas.

Emphasizing that the economy is one of the priority areas of cooperation among CIS countries, Putin said close cooperation is being pursued in trade, investment and high technology. Putin said Russia’s trade volume with its CIS partners exceeded $110 billion at the end of 2025 and increased by 12 percent in the first six months of 2026.

Putin said trade relations could develop more rapidly and that the obstacles standing in the way should be removed. He noted that countries sometimes choose to maintain trade barriers in line with their national interests, which slows the pace of cooperation.

Putin said a stable financial infrastructure independent of external pressure had been established among CIS countries and that almost all mutual payments were carried out in national currencies. He said the share of national currencies in trade transactions among the countries had exceeded 90 percent, adding that this development enables deeper economic cooperation, the development of capital markets and an increase in mutual investment.

The meeting was hosted by Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedow. In addition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the restricted-format meeting was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev also attended the meeting.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attended the expanded-format meeting.