Astana Summits Conclude With Russia-Central Asia

Astana Summits Conclude with Russia-Central Asia Meeting

Oct. 15, 2022 (EIRNS)—A series of three summits beginning with the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and ending with a summit of the leaders of Russia and Central Asia, with a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States Heads of State Council, concluded in Astana, Kazakhstan yesterday. The discussion at the CIS meeting focused on key aspects of interaction within the CIS, ways to improve the organization’s efficiency and the performance of its executive and industry-related bodies, reported the Kremlin News Service.

The CIS heads of state adopted a package of documents including resolutions on the role of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, on support of the Russian language and on other matters. “Based on the primary responsibility for ensuring our security, we will continue to encourage six-party cooperation and information exchange focused on countering terrorism and extremism, illegal migration, and illegal drug production and trafficking,” said a joint statement issued following the summit.

On the sidelines, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a bilateral meeting with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and a trilateral meeting with the Presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and other sideline meetings.

During a press conference following the Russia-Central Asia Summit, Putin emphasized that while bilateral formats are useful, “when we meet in such formats as today, five [Central Asian] countries plus Russia, we do not look at the issues on the agenda from a bilateral angle but, as I noted today, try to look for projects and spheres of cooperation that will be of interest to the region as a whole. The issue may be the same, but we look at it from a different angle that may be of interest to all of us.”