What the participants of the Council of Presidents of the CIS Supreme Courts agreed on in Minsk

The chairmen of the Supreme Courts of the Commonwealth of Independent States met in Minsk to discuss topical issues of cooperation and agree on measures to remove obstacles to deepening cooperation.

The second meeting of the Council, which Belarus currently chairs, was held at the National Library. The event was preceded by a number of protocol meetings at the level of heads of foreign delegations. The meetings were held at the Supreme Court. In particular, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus Andrei Shved held meetings in bilateral and trilateral formats with the chairmen of the supreme courts of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Tajikistan.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko sent greetings to the participants. It was voiced by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Olga Chupris. In his greeting, the Belarusian head of state stated that the CIS has become a key platform for fruitful partnership of the post-Soviet countries. The President stressed the special importance for ensuring the protection of the rights of citizens and organizations of the Commonwealth countries of cooperation in the field of justice in the convergence of national legal systems and the introduction of best practices:

Today, specific tasks are coming to the fore, including mutual recognition and enforcement of court decisions, improvement of legal assistance mechanisms, digitalization of judicial activities.

Indeed, the participants of the meeting focused on solving practical problems. Chairman of the Supreme Court of Belarus Andrey Shved spoke about this in an interview with journalists. He announced the adoption of decisions that will remove many of the barriers associated with the need for more rapid and full enforcement of the decisions of national courts in the Commonwealth. Andrei Shved explained the importance of this step as follows: The main component of the work is practical measures that will allow, taking into account the practice of recognition and enforcement of court decisions, to ensure the rule of law in the CIS countries. This will allow for prompt and, most importantly, full enforcement of court decisions. The second, no less important issue discussed is the digitalization of judicial processes. Andrey Shved noted that artificial intelligence will not replace the judge, his conscience, inner convictions and knowledge of the law, but modern technologies that will be and are already being implemented in practice, allow to significantly optimize the process of legal proceedings and ensure a more qualitative and complete consideration of cases.

Another topic was the recognition and enforcement of decisions of foreign courts of the CIS member states. Particular attention is paid to the economy. The main categories of economic affairs are similar in all CIS countries and are focused on protecting the interests of economic entities. The participants agreed that the implementation of court decisions on economic disputes becomes the foundation of the economic security of the CIS countries. Next year, the chairmanship of the Council will pass to Kazakhstan. Chairman of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan Aslambek Mergaliyev noted that much has been done during the presidency of Belarus in the Council, which allowed the association to become a significant platform for discussing problematic issues and developing the judicial system in the CIS as a whole. Kazakhstan during its presidency will maintain continuity and continue the work started by Belarus, Aslambek Mergaliyev assured.

gorbatenko@sb.by