CIS summit in Dushanbe

In the beginning of September the 20th summit of the CIS in Dushanbe, in Tajikistan will be held. Uzbek President Islam Karimov will miss the summit and taking his place will be the Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziev. Some time ago the Azeri President Ilham Aliev also made this kind of decision and Azerbaijan will be represented by the PM Artur Rasizade.

Some analysts think that the decision of the Uzbek President could have been predicted as gradually Uzbekistan has been trying to escape from the CIS integration processes. Uzbekistan initially was looking for some benefits with its CIS participation, mostly Russian investment. However their hopes did not fully materialise and Uzbekistan is taking a more western approach thus receiving western investments.