The chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will pass to Ukraine in 2014, CIS Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev told news reporters, on Tuesday in Belarusian capital city Minsk.

Ukraine was to chair CIS—which includes Armenia—this year, but it had to forego, since it was chairing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“Ukraine has declared that it wishes to chair the CIS in the year 2014. I know that the Ukrainian MFA is already working in this direction,” Lebedev said, RIA Novosti News Agency of Russia reports.

He expressed confidence that the great majority of the CIS member countries will support this wish of Ukraine.

“The CIS Executive Committee will assist all administrations of Ukraine in preparing for the chairmanship,” Sergei Lebedev added.

To note, Belarus chairs the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2013.