On October 6, 2021, the delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic has participated in the XXVIII meeting of the Advisory Council of the Heads of Consular Services of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (in the format of video conferencing).

During the event it was discussed the implementing provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of April 24, 1963 by the Commonwealth’s countries; as well as the cooperation within the framework of the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters of January 22, 1993, (the "Minsk Convention"), as well as in the framework of bilateral consular conventions concluded by the Commonwealth’s member states.

The delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic noted absence, in general, of significant problematic issues on compliance with the provisions of the "Vienna" and "Minsk" conventions and drew attention to the aspects requiring appropriate implementation by the Parties.

Along with other participants, attention was drawn to the need for timely receipt of official information on detentions and arrests of citizens, as required by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as well as long periods of consideration of appeals to the competent authorities on consular access to citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic who are under investigation or convicted abroad.

Mr. A.Kyshtobaev, the Deputy Director of the Department of Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic has reiterated the relevance of recognition by the participating States, especially in the regions of the CIS countries, of official documents issued by state bodies of other participating States, without any special certification, in accordance with Article 13 of the  Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters.

In the same vein, the delegation of Kyrgyzstan proposed to conduct specialized consultations and increase the efficiency of document flow between the competent authorities of the CIS member states on the issues of extradition, criminal investigation and arrest, as well as other criminal, civil cases by means of transferring document flow into electronic format.

Following the meeting, a Protocol was adopted including the proposals of the Parties on the issues discussed.