ST. PETERSBURG, October 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested discussing preparations for the first Russia-Central Asia heads of states' meeting at an informal CIS summit on Friday.
"The topic for discussion is preparations for next week's first-ever summit in the Russia-Central Asia format in Astana," Putin said. He drew attention to the fact that "this forum is held in the year of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and all five Central Asian states."
As it was previously reported, the CIS summits, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the meeting of heads of state in the Russia-Central Asia format will be held in the capital of Kazakhstan, which is chairing the CIS in 2022, on October 12-14.
"We do have a lot of issues, we have gathered together, we have already begun to discuss some of them, they are all of significant interest to us in the economy, in the social sphere and in the international legal aspect. I am confident that we will have a fruitful meeting today," Putin told his colleagues. He thanked the CIS leaders for "responding to the invitation and coming to St. Petersburg".
The informal CIS summit takes place on the 70th anniversary of the Russian president.