Ashgabat to host CIS summit in autumn

Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, May 16 / Trend H.Hasanov / President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at the informal CIS summit in Moscow was invited to visit Ashgabat on November 2 this year to attend a meeting of the Council of the CIS Heads of State, local media reported on Wednesday. Berdimuhamedov is in Russia on a working visit (May 15-16). 'On this occasion, the Turkmen leader invited the presidents of the Commonwealth to visit Ashgabat on November 2 this year to attend a meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State', a statement from the Turkmen government said. It was also stated that a meeting of the Council of the CIS Heads of Government will be held on May 30 in Ashgabat. The CIS executive committee reported earlier that the event is supposed to consider the drafts of 30 documents in various areas of cooperation of integration of the Commonwealth members. "Turkmenistan welcomes the initiatives aimed at enhancing equitable and mutually beneficial ties between the CIS countries," Turkmen state news service quotes the Turkmen leader as saying in Moscow. The Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper notes that the Turkmen leader expressed belief that specific aspects will be discussed during the meetings of statutory bodies of the CIS in the current year. In general in 2012, the concept of the presidency of Turkmenistan in the CIS provides for holding 31 events, 10 of which will be organised in Ashgabat, the rest in other Commonwealth countries. Turkmenistan will host meetings of the Council of Heads of State, heads of the Government Council and the Council of Foreign Ministers of CIS member states, as well as the Economic Council of the Commonwealth. Among other major events planned for the CIS which Turkmenistan will host are the Forum of Creative and Scientific Intelligentsia of the CIS countries and international conferences on issues of food security. The most upcoming event will be scheduled for May 25 in Ashgabat which is the 41st meeting of the CIS Electric Power Council. In 2005, Ashgabat, referring to the status of permanent neutrality, recognised and supported by the United Nations, adopted the decision of its participation in the CIS as an associate member. In recent years, Ashgabat hosted several CIS events namely a movie festival, agricultural forum, the summit of foreign ministers, meeting of the Interstate Council for Standardisation, Metrology and Certification and the meeting of the council of CIS frontier troops and commanders. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az