Kazakhstan hosted the 82nd meeting of the Council of Heads of Customs Services of CIS member states, chaired by FCS Russia head Valery Pikalyov. Source: FCS Russia.
In his opening remarks, Valery Pikalyov noted that the Commonwealth of Independent States marks its 35th anniversary in 2026. He said the customs services were signing the Council's 800th decision, had adopted more than 100 regulatory documents and had established the Russian Customs Academy as the CIS base organisation for customs staff training.
The meeting included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on simplifying transit shipments. It sets out intentions to exchange lists of prohibited or dangerous goods and to speed up border crossings for perishable cargo moving through CIS countries.
The memorandum is also expected to support information exchange on infrastructure projects at checkpoints. The agenda covered 8 items, including experience sharing on customs-control IT tools, inspection systems and analysis of X-ray images.
The Council approved common approaches to classifying salted and dried fish and squid. The working group on goods classification was updated after experts from Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan joined it.
Representatives of customs services received Council badges for honorary customs officers of CIS member states and for strengthening customs cooperation. The next Council meeting is planned for the third quarter in the Republic of Belarus.
