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The Tajik president will attend the second summit in the format of Central Asia and Germany, which will be held in the Kazakh capital of Astana on September 17, an official source from the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the president is accompanied on his trip to Kazakhstan by the foreign minister, the president’s adviser on foreign affairs and some other high-ranking Tajik state officials.
“It is not yet known whether Emomali Rahmon will have bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit with face-to-face meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and heads of Central Asian nations,” the source added.
The topics on which the German chancellor will discuss with the highest representatives of the Central Asian nations are reportedly still unknown.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) on September 12 said the summit aims to promote closer ties on economic, energy and development issues.
HRW called on Olaf Scholz to promote human rights at the Astana summit.
In a statement, HRW cited ongoing rights issues across the region, including “suppression of rights to protest and express opinions, including online, imprisonment of activists, torture in custody, crackdowns on civil society, violence against women, impunity by violent security forces.” and the lack of free and fair elections.”
The second summit, with Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek heads of state, is expected to focus heavily on energy, along with broader economic and development talks, according to some sources. The leaders are also expected to discuss international sanctions against Russia.
The first summit of the Central Asia plus Germany format took place at the end of September last year in Berlin. On September 29, 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosted leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to discuss strengthening regional and economic cooperation.
Media reports at the time said Olaf Scholz welcomed leaders from five Central Asian countries to their first ever summit as EU member states seek to gain geopolitical allies in the region. The leaders announced after the meeting that they had agreed to create a “strategic regional partnership” between Germany and Central Asia and promised to take steps to further strengthen economic ties.
