The informal summit in the Kazakh city of Aktau began with Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Later Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev, Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov and Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov joined them.
The leaders of the five CIS countries discussed the situation related to the antiterrorist operations in Afghanistan and relevant aspects of international security. When exchanging their viewpoints, they focused on the situation in Central Asia and the Middle East, and in India and Pakistan.
Another major subject of their talks was cooperation in the fuel and energy sector. They also discussed prospects for expanding their countries’ versatile interaction in the economic, transport and customs spheres.
The Russian President expressed his opinion about the G8 summit to be held in late June in Canada and said that some results of the summit concerned not only Russia but other CIS countries as well. He mentioned the so-called “10 plus 10 over 10” initiative providing for the allocation of $20 billion to dispose of chemical weapons and nuclear material stocks.
After the talks, the presidents took a stroll around the city and visited the port on the Caspian Sea.