Tajik President Emomali Rahmon virtually attended the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Council of the Heads of State meeting in Minsk on Friday, October 15.

Leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan participated in the meeting

They reportedly discussed the results of multilateral cooperation in the union and prospects of future cooperation among current global and regional issues.

The summit was held to mark the 30th anniversary of the CIS, established on December 8, 1991.

Speaking at the meeting, Emomali Rahmon, in particular, noted that political and military crisis in Afghanistan poses a serious threat to security of the CIS member nations. 

According to him, Taliban’s coming to power in Afghanistan has further complicated the situation in the neighboring country.

In this regard, it is necessary to coodinate interction between the power-wielding structures of the CIS member more closely, Tajik leader noted.

The Tajik side proposed to declare 2025 as the International Year for the Preservation of Glaciers and set up the special international fund for preservation of glaciers.  President Rahmon expressed hope that the CIS member nations would support that initiative.  

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.  

Established on December 8, 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization.  It now consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  Turkmenistan has an associate status in the grouping.