Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will leave Dushanbe for the Kazakh capital, Astana, tomorrow on a working visit to participate in the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and a session of the CIS Heads of State Council.

The sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia will take place on October 12-13. 

Representatives of CICA member states, observers and partner organizations as well as a number of guests of the Kazakhstan’s Chairmanship will participate in the CICA summit.  

The theme of the 6th CICA summit is "Role of Ombudsman and National Institutions for Human Rights in Business and Human Rights.”

The previous 5th CICA summit took place in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe on June 15, 2019 and ended with adoption of a declaration. The theme of the 5th CICA summit was “Common Vision for a Safe and More Prosperous CICA Region.” 

The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.  It was initiated by the then Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992.  In 1996, seventeen states participated in the conference and drafted the basic document.  The first meeting of the CICA Ministers of Foreign Affairs was held on 14 September 1999 with participation of 15 Member States. The Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between CICA Member States was adopted at that meeting.  The first CICA summit was held in 2002.

CICA member states now include Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Iceland, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Norway, North Korea, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

A session of the CIS Heads of State Council will take place in Astana on October 14.  As expected, the presidents of the CIS member nations are expected to meet in person in Astana

The Council of Heads of State of the CIS is a working body in the Commonwealth of Independent States.  It serves as the supreme body of the CIS, and includes all the chiefs of state of CIS member nations.  Regular meetings of the council are held annually.  It was created following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, directly replacing the State Council of the Soviet Union.  As of 2020 there are 9 members of the CIS: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  Two states, Ukraine and Turkmenistan, have ratified the CIS Creation Agreement, making them "founding states of the CIS", but did not ratify the subsequent Charter that would make them members of the CIS.  Georgia quitted the CIS in 2009.