CIS heads of state summit held in Kazakh capital Astana

By Burc Eruygur

ANKARA (AA) - The Commonwealth of Independent States' (CIS) heads of state summit was held Friday in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

The summit, chaired by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was attended by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The heads of state took a traditional joint photo at the beginning of the summit.

"Today, important issues relating to humanitarian partnership, security and other aspects of our cooperation are submitted for consideration by the Council," Tokayev said before the meeting.

Tokayev further thanked his colleagues for supporting Kazakh initiatives within the framework of its chairmanship and their active participation in international events recently hosted in Astana, notably the sixth Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia summit.

He also thanked Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow for attending the summit for the first time.

The agenda of the CIS summit includes topics of integration, cooperation, economics, humanitarian matters, further development of trade and investment partnership within the organization, and security issues.

The CIS Heads of State Council is the supreme body of the organization, founded in 1991, where key issues of common interest are discussed and resolved.

Ukraine is not taking part in the summit.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu will not be able to take part due to her busy work schedule.

The summit will also see the transfer of the chairmanship of the organization from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan.​​​​​​​