Mirziyoyev meets with Emomali Rahmon

Today, October 9, a meeting was held in Dushanbe between the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, the presidential press service reported.

At the beginning of the conversation, the Uzbek leader sincerely congratulated the President of Tajikistan on the successful chairmanship of the Commonwealth of Independent States and wished success in the upcoming ’’Central Asia–Russia’’ summit and the CIS meeting.

The two leaders discussed current issues of expanding and strengthening the relations of friendship, good neighborliness, strategic partnership, and alliance between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

It was noted with great satisfaction that bilateral cooperation continues to develop at a positive pace. The volume of trade and freight transportation, as well as the number of flights between the two countries, is steadily increasing.

Special attention was paid to adopting coordinated measures aimed at expanding mutual trade and promoting cooperative projects in industry, energy, agriculture, and other priority areas.

The sides also emphasized the importance of continuing active cultural and humanitarian exchanges and maintaining productive interregional ties.

They exchanged views on key international and regional issues, including preparations for the upcoming Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, which will be held in November this year in Tashkent.

This afternoon, October 9, the ’’Russia–Central Asia’’ summit will begin in Dushanbe. This will be the second meeting in this format, following the first held in Astana in October 2022. In this framework, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with the leaders of the five Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. According to Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov, the summit agenda includes issues of six-party cooperation in the areas of trade, economy, finance, investment, industry, logistics, energy, and other key sectors. As a final document, the heads of state are expected to adopt a communique consisting of more than 20 points.

Tomorrow, October 10, Dushanbe will host a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State. It will be attended by the leaders of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The session will begin in a restricted format with the participation of the heads of state and CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev. Later, an expanded meeting will be held over lunch, where Sergey Lebedev and Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova will deliver speeches.

During the summit, the heads of state will discuss the creation of a new format, ’’CIS+,’’ which envisions the participation of third countries. A similar model is already in practice within the frameworks of BRICS and the SCO. In his address, Vladimir Putin is expected to invite the CIS leaders to the traditional informal meeting in St. Petersburg, which is planned to take place at the end of December. The exact date of the event has not yet been determined.