The second Central Asian summit scheduled for April 12 has been postponed to a later date, a source in the Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the meeting has been postponed with the consent of the presidents. “The exact date is still unknown. It will be specified through diplomatic channels,” the source added.
The agenda of the second regional summit reportedly includes issues related to expansion of political, economic and humanitarian cooperation between the Central Asian nations.
Recall, the second meeting of the Central Asian leaders was initiated by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during the first regional summit that took place in the Kazakh capital, Astana, in March last year.
Presidents of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as well as Turkmen parliament speaker met in Astana on March 15 last year for the first regional summit in almost a decade.
Before that the leaders of the five Central Asian nations have held informal meetings and have met within the frameworks of the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), etc.
An informal summit of Central Asian leaders took place in the Kazakh capital on September 2, 2006. The meeting brought together the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan for talks to discuss economic and other issues. One of the most important topics on the meeting’s agenda was the creation of an international consortium to manage the region's water resources.
The next meeting that took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan in April 2009 focused solely on the problems of the shrinking Aral Sea.
The then Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev reiterated calls for the integration of Central Asian countries as a way to jointly ensure the security and prosperity of the region on November 13, 2017, while answering questions at the 3rd session of the Astana Club, a Kazakhstani government-backed international forum aimed at discussing Eurasian issues.
He pointed to recent developments in Kazakhstan's relationship with Uzbekistan as an example of moving towards better regional integration.
Kazakhstan proposed hosting a Central Asian leaders' summit in Astana in October 2017.
Kazak Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov voiced the proposal on October 11, 2017 during a speech in Samarqand, Uzbekistan, at the UN-sponsored conference devoted to security and sustainable development in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan advocates forming a model regional zone for peace, security and cooperation in Central Asia and Afghanistan, Abdrakhmanov said.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, speaking at the October 11 conference in Samarqand, supported Nazarbayev's initiative, eyeing a new course for development focused on closer co-operation with neighbors.
Central Asian experts consider that geographic factors could turn Uzbekistan into a vehicle for regional cooperation because it borders all four other Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — as well as Afghanistan.
