DUSHANBE, June 29, 2010, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon will attend a regular session of the Interstate Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) that will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan on July 5, Asia-Plus has learned from the source at the Tajik government.
The session will bring together the presidents of Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan to discuss issues related to further economic integration of member nations of the Community and cooperation in the fields of trade and finance.
The heads of state from Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will have an opportunity to congratulate Kazakh President Nursultan Nazabayev on his 70th birthday, the source said.
In the meantime, Kazakh media report the Kazakh leader forbade local officials to celebrate his jubilee. Over the past ten years, July 6 has been officially celebrated as a Day of the Kazakh Capital City.
The initial concept of the Eurasian Economic Community was first proposed in October 2000, as a successor to the CIS Customs Union, when Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan signed a treaty on broad economic and trade cooperation. The organization was formally created with the ratification of that treaty in May 2001. The initial five-member group was further expanded in May 2002 when Moldova and Ukraine were granted observer status, and again in April 2003, when Ukraine and Armenia gained observer status. In January 2006, Uzbekistan joined EAEC. But alter in 2008 Uzbekistan decided to temporarily suspend its membership.
