President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and CIS Executive Secretary also Chairman of the Executive Committee Sergei attended a session of the CIS Council of Heads of State that took place in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on October 14.  

Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee Sergei Lebedev took the floor to inform the participants about the draft agenda and the rules of work.

BelTA reports that after that the press was asked to leave and the leaders of the CIS countries continued the meeting in a narrow format behind closed doors.

They reportedly discussed topical issues of the development of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Some organizational matters were considered.   During the meeting Kyrgyzstan was announced CIS chair in 2023 and a decision was made to hold the next meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in Bishkek.

The Tajik president’s official website says that speaking at the meeting, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon called on CIS member nations to take effective measures to jointly address increasing challenges and threats, including terrorism, extremism, illegal drug trafficking, cybercrime and other manifestations of transnational organized crime.  

Tajik leader reportedly noted that despite the results achieved by the CIS member nations over the past thirty years, there are still obstacles and restrictions that impede the further mutually beneficial development.    

Rahmon also noted issues related to influence of external factors on the economies and security of the countries, food and energy crises, climate change and influence of the COVID pandemic, consequences of conflicts in various countries of the world that could have impact on regional and international security.  

The meeting in a narrow format was followed by an extended-format session.