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Presidents of "Shanghai Five" Start Dushanbe Summit
The presidents from China, Tajikistan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan started their annual summit meeting here Wednesday to discuss regional and international issues of common concern and explore new ways for furthering bilateral and multilateral cooperation among the five nations.
President of the host country, Emomali Rakhmonov, presided over the meeting, commonly known as the "Shanghai Five" summit.
The heads of state from the five nations first began their annual summit in Shanghai, China, in April 1996 to discuss regional and international issues of common interest.
Attending the Dushanbe summit are Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who arrived here Monday on a two-day state visit to Tajikistan before the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, and Tajik President Rakhmonov.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov attended the meeting for the first time as an observer.
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