DUSHANBE, January 8, 2016, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan makes preparations for the 25th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
An interstate exhibition dedicated to this landmark event will take place in Moscow this year from June 9-12.
The organizing committee for preparation of the country for the mentioned exhibition met in Dushanbe yesterday to discuss participation of Tajik producers and entrepreneurs in the exhibition.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister, Azim Ibrohim, noted that the exhibition would give Tajik producers and entrepreneurs an opportunity to display their achievements and find new trading partners.
Established on December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization.
The organization was founded on 8 December 1991 by the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine, when the leaders of the three countries met in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve in Belarus and signed the Agreement establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. At the same time they announced that the new alliance would be open to all republics of the former Soviet Union, and to other nations sharing the same goals. The CIS charter stated that all the members were sovereign and independent nations and thereby effectively abolished the Soviet Union.
On December 21, 1991, the leaders of eight additional former Soviet Republics – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – signed the Alma-Ata Protocol which can either be interpreted as expanding the CIS to these states or the proper foundation or refoundation date of the CIS, thus bringing the number of participating countries to 11. Georgia joined two years later, in December 1993.
The CIS now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
