DUSHANBE, October 8, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- President’s decision to not attend a session of the CIS council of heads of state that is being held in the Moldavian capital Chisinau tomorrow does not mean that a chill hit Tajik-Russian relations, Sayfullo Safarov, the deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the president of Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, refusal to take part at the summit cannot be interpreted as decrease in the Tajik leadership’s interest in the CIS format.

“Indeed, the Commonwealth is working weakly, however, it is very important organization both for Tajikistan and other member nations,” said the senior expert from Tajik thin tank, “An example of Georgia is evidence of significance of this organization.  After withdrawal from the CIS, Georgia has been faced with dozens of problems and ordinary Georgians are currently experiencing difficulties with traveling to the Russian Federation.”

Safarov is sure that other countries that intend to quit the CIS as the unnecessary organization will suffer the same fate.  “The CIS is a political area for former Soviet republics, you now,” he said.

“Tajikistan does not boycott the summit; it just sends the prime minister instead the president there,” said Safarov, “Other countries also do the same in case of necessity; for example, Kazakhstan.  Heads of state not always have free time to attend all summits.  I believe that if it is opportunity our president will attend other upcoming sessions of the CIS council of heads of state.”

We will recall that the leaders of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have also sent their regrets and these countries will be represented by lower-level delegations.

As it had been reported earlier, the official agenda of the Chisinau summit includes some 20 issues related to economic, humanitarian, and security cooperation, as well as another round of the discussion of how to improve the organization itself.