The meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) began in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Friday.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev welcomed the participants of the meeting in his opening speech, BelTA has reported.

A number of agreements are to be signed during the meeting in order to enhance CIS countries' cooperation in various fields.

Founded in December 1991, CIS currently has nine full member states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.