President Serdar Berdimuhamedov took part in an informal meeting of the CIS heads of state, which was held on October 7 in St. Petersburg, the state information agency reports. TDH reports .
The meeting was also attended by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin , Azerbaijan – Ilham Aliyev , Belarus – Alexander Lukashenko , Kazakhstan – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev , Tajikistan – Emomali Rahmon , Uzbekistan – Shavkat Mirziyoyev , as well as the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan .
Judging by the text of the TDH, the president did not speak at the meeting. The publication only notes that “in recent years, Turkmenistan has also repeatedly become a venue for important meetings, forums and various events under the auspices of the CIS.”
Vladimir Putin in his speech noted that this meeting is an opportunity to synchronize watches before the annual full-scale meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State on October 14 in Astana. Its agenda includes topics of integration cooperation in politics, economics, and the humanitarian sphere. A solid package of documents is also being prepared for approval, the Kremlin press service reports .
Putin also said that last year Russia’s trade with the CIS countries increased by more than 30% – up to $ 96 billion, and in the first half of this year it grew by another 7%.
The President of Russia said that issues of ensuring security in the Commonwealth space would be touched upon. “After all, in addition to Ukraine, where truly tragic events are taking place, unfortunately, conflicts sometimes arise between other close states of the post-Soviet space, and this, of course, requires the development of measures to resolve them,” he said.
In mid-September, a conflict broke out on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – as a result of shelling, 63 citizens of Kyrgyzstan were killed. Shooting, among other things, took place during the SCO Summit in Samarkand. And on October 4, Vladimir Putin awarded Emomali Rahmon with the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree. The Kyrgyz side considered this an insult, and it is for this reason that the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov , did not participate in the meeting in St. Petersburg.
Gratitude was also expressed to the head of Kazakhstan, who took the initiative to create an international organization under the auspices of the CIS to support and promote the Russian language.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan