MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will take a business trip to Astana on October 13-14, where he will take part in the 6th Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit, the Council of CIS leaders and the first Russia - Central Asia summit, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters Wednesday.
Putin’s agenda will begin with the CICA summit. According to Ushakov, it is a multilateral dialogue format for the discussion of pressing regional problems, development of cooperation between member nations in order to build military trust, political, economic, humanitarian, ecological areas, and in the area of new threats and challenges.
He noted that more than 10 out of 27 states will be represented at the level of heads of states or their deputies. The plenary meeting will be divided into two parts, separated by an official reception. Leaders will speak in the first session and ministers and other officials in the second.
Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS
"On October 14, on Friday, Vladimir Putin will take part in the meeting of the Council of CIS heads of state. The meeting will be attended by leaders from all CIS member states," the aide said, adding that the meeting will begin in a narrow format, with participation of leaders only, while delegations will join later.
Strengthening ties on the CIS territory is one of the top priorities of Russian foreign policy, Ushakov noted, adding that Moscow seeks to further strengthen ties with its partners in all areas.
A great deal of attention will be paid to strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation during the meeting. Russian Federation Speaker Valentina Matviyenko will address the role of the CIS inter-parliamentary assembly in the development of the association.
The ‘Russia - Central Asia’ summit
The first Russia - Central Asia summit will take place on October 14 after the CIS meeting is over.
"Leaders of Russia and Central Asian states stay in constant contact, in direct communication, including both in-person meetings and by phone," Ushakov said. "Still, a decision was made to gather together six nations (Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) and discuss the issues of further development of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the regional states."
Ushakov underscored that this was a Russian initiative. A joint statement is expected after the meeting.
"This statement reflects the common position of the six states on the key areas of cooperation, it outlines common values, emphasizes the cohesive role of the Russian language, recognizes the objectivity of the formation of a multipolar world, it defines goals of rapprochement of the potential of the six states, of industry cooperation in trade, transport, energy, migration, ecology, healthcare and so on," the aide said.
The Kremlin hopes that this summit will become a regular event, Ushakov added.
The Russian delegation includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov and a number of experts. In addition, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller will take part in a number of bilateral meetings.
An international organization for the support and promotion of the Russian language under the CIS aegis will be established during the summit, Ushakov said.
"In order to popularize the Russian language as the means of international communication, the leaders will make a decision to establish an international organization to support and promote the Russian language. This initiative belongs to the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev," the aide said.
Bilateral meetings
Vladimir Putin will discuss the situation in the Middle East and prospects for reviving Palestinian-Israeli dialogue with the President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting in Astana, Ushakov said.
"Putin will meet with the President of Palestine. We maintain constant contact with him, there are a lot of topics for discussion: bilateral relations and, of course, the leaders will exchange opinions on the situation in the Middle East, will pay attention to the issues of the Middle Eastern settlement, and will discuss the prospects for the resumption of the Palestine-Israeli dialogue," the aide said.
Putin will also meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and will discuss the relations between Baku and Yerevan, Ushakov said.
"We value our relations with Azerbaijan. Of course, we will be ready to discuss not only bilateral affairs, but we will also exchange opinions on the current state of the Azerbaijani-Armenian relationship," the aide said. "We see that non-regional actors, the EU and the US in particular, seek to infiltrate this work, but they mainly use our developments. The main agreements were achieved in 2020 and 2021 with our most active participation.".