October 9, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka travels to Tajikistan today to participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Dushanbe tomorrow, his press office reports.
The heads of CIS member states are expected to discuss strengthening the bloc on the international arena ahead of its 35th anniversary next year. Potential steps may include setting up the CIS Plus group and granting observer status to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The summit will also focus on energy security, military cooperation, border protection and combating transnational crime.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are full members of the CIS. Moldova, which prioritizes European integration, remains a de facto member of the CIS but announced its intention to withdraw in 2022 and has ignored the post-Soviet Russian-dominated bloc’s events since then.
