On 14 October, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan took part in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the CIS member states in the capital of Belarus in Minsk.

During the meeting, held in a narrow and then in an expanded format, the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the CIS member states, in the context of the further development of the organization, exchanged views on regional and international issues, discussed in detail the issues of political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian interaction within the CIS.

The foreign ministers summed up the results of the work done over the past 30 years and the programs implemented, discussed the development prospects and priority areas of the CIS.

During the meeting, Minister Mirzoyan, touching upon the further development of the organization, stressed the importance of the rights of peoples to equality and self-determination, sovereignty, the principles of inviolability of state borders, the non-use of force and the threat of force, and commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes, enshrined in the fundamental documents of the CIS. 

The above was emphasized in the context of the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh. Noting the importance of the provisions of the trilateral statement of 9 November, in particular on the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees and the need to preserve the Armenian cultural and spiritual heritage in the territories that have come under the control of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, Minister Mirzoyan also stressed that a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in within the mandate of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group will contribute to the establishment of long-term peace in the South Caucasus.

As a result of the CFM meeting, a number of statements were adopted, which the next day will be submitted for approval by the Council of CIS Heads of State. During the meeting, a program of multi-level consultations between the foreign ministries within the CIS for 2022 was also agreed, a Joint Statement by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CIS member states on strengthening the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons, a Decision to establish a base organization to study the problems of countering terrorism and other manifestations of extremism and other documents.