West-oriented moves by some CIS members do not hinder CIS integration, S. Lebedev says

West-oriented moves by some CIS members do not hinder the integration in the Commonwealth, Sergei Lebedev, the chairman of the CIS Executive Committee – Executive Secretary, said during the ministerial consultations in Minsk January 16. According to him, the integration with the European organisations is a logical movement towards greater cooperation with international organisations. In this or that degree it is typical for all CIS member states. “This is a natural integration process in the world in general,” Sergei Lebedev says. At the same time it is important that the movement of the CIS countries towards the EU and Nato should be coordinated, Sergei Lebedev said. In this case more beneficial terms of integration into these international organisations can be reached for each of the CIS states. “Coordinated actions will help clear up some misunderstandings which arise when one country moves towards Europe fast and this process is somewhat confidential,” Sergei Lebedev said. In his words, the CIS states can coordinate the positions on many international issues, for example, non-proliferation of WMD, delivery systems, prohibition of chemical weapons. As a positive example Sergei Lebedev cited the recent OSCE summit in Madrid when the CIS countries supported Kazakhstan’s bid for the OSCE chairmanship in 2010. A group of the CIS states made several proposals during the summit which received a positive response from the participants of the summit.