TASHKENT (Interfax) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov has signed a special decree under which Uzbekistan is joining the CIS treaty on interstate search. The decision became effective after the president signed an appropriate document, a source in the presidential administration told Interfax on Tuesday.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Under the document, the central bodies in charge of the implementation of the treaty are the Interior Ministry, the National Security Service, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Justice Ministry, the source said.

The president has also tasked the Foreign Ministry with issuing an appropriate notice on the fulfilment by the republic of the intrastate procedures needed for the enactment of the said international treaty.

The document was signed at the meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the CIS countries in Moscow on December 10. The purpose of the treaty is to create effective mechanisms governing cooperation between the CIS countries on interstate search.

The CIS is comparable to a very loose association of states and in no way comparable to a federation, confederation or supra-national organisation such as the old European Community. It is more comparable to the Commonwealth of Nations. Although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is aimed at being more than a purely symbolic organization, nominally possessing coordinating powers in the realm of trade, finance, lawmaking, and security. It has also promoted cooperation on democratization and cross-border crime prevention. As a regional organization, CIS participates in UN peacekeeping forces. Some of the members of the CIS have established the Eurasian Economic Community with the aim of creating a full-fledged common market.