Kremlin to host 4 summits of former Soviet republics
The Kremlin will host the negotiations between the leaders of the member-countries of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan), the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC) (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and an anniversary CIS summit, which is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Commonwealth of the Independent States (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine).
According to Itar-Tass, the summits will begin with the negotiations of the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Dmitry Medvedev, Alexander Lukashenko and Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian presidential aide Sergei Prikhodko told Itar-Tass. They will meet at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, which was formed by the Customs Union states, first in an eye-on-eye format, then in an enlarged format involving the experts.
On Monday afternoon, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan (Armenia has an observer status in the EurAsEC) and newly elected Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, who participates for the first time in the summits, will join the foresaid presidents at a summit of the Eurasian Economic Community that is intended for about two hours.
Already late on Monday evening Medvedev will give a festive reception at the Kremlin on the occasion of the 20th CIS anniversary. All presidents of the EurAsEC states are invited for the reception.
On Tuesday, the leaders of the countries will meet at a CSTO summit in narrow and enlarged formats. An anniversary CIS summit is due on Tuesday afternoon.
Prikhodko note that brief 20-minute press conferences are scheduled after each of four two-hour stages of the summit. The presidents will discuss over 50 various issues.
On the days of the summits Medvedev will have several bilateral meetings. The Russian president will meet with his counterparts from Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine, Prikhodko said.
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