YEREVAN, OCTOBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The 20th sitting of CIS member-countries' Cooperation Council in Educational Sphere, which was held on October 25 in Yerevan, was dedicated to discussion of issues of educational quality, standardization of secondary education, mutual recognition of higher professional education documents, development of grown-ups' education, cooperation between universities and secondary schools, creation of joint universities, and extension of their network. Delegations of 8 CIS countries took part in the 20th jubilee sitting. Representatives of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan did not take part in the sitting. Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education and Science, said in his greeting speech that meetings and consultations periodically organized within the framework of the Council contribute not only to development of CIS inter-state cooperation, but also progress of national educational system in individual countries. "The Club of CIS Ministers of Education formed in 1998 tried to keep the former Soviet educational space. Cooperation between Council member-countries continues in correspondence with the requirements of time," the Minister mentioned. L. Mkrtchian emphasized that parallel with that cooperation, Armenia also entered European educational space and has been in the system of European monitoring for nearly one year. "This conference also helps us to understand the level of each country. And the holding of this conference in Armenia once more witnesses that the country remains a scientific-educational center in the region," he said. "I think the educational systems of CIS member-countries have a great prospect, especially as they have been established in a common educational space in the past. We should cooperate reaching agreement over reforms implemented in that sphere," Alexander Radkov, the Minister of Education of Belarus, stated. "Armenia is in a period of ongoing reforms and developments, which is also reflected in the educational sphere. Many-sided reforms and developments implemented in the sphere are noticeable. All problems, which unequivocally regard CIS member-countries' educational systems, will be discussed in these days," Kanibek Osmonaliyev, the Minister of Education of Kyrghyzstan, mentioned. The 13th conference of CIS member-countries' Ministers of Education will take place on October 26.

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