DUSHANBE, October 18, Asia-Plus -- Integration organizations within the post-Soviet area have begun paying more attention to interests of small countries, Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on October 18.   

“In the regional organizations such as CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) center of gravity is shifting towards small countries, “ said the minister, “And evidence of this is the fact that for the first time over the past fifteen years, Kyrgyzstan has assumed the rotating CIS chairmanship and Tajikistan has taken over leadership of EAEC”. 

“We are gradually entering that level of international relations when interests of all sides are taken into consideration equally and principles of diktat remain in the past,” Zarifi noted.    

 Commenting on the results of the CIS, EAEC and CSTO summits that were held in the Tajik capital on October 5-6, the minister noted that simultaneous holding of several meetings at the highest level was undesirable, because it required many efforts of both technical and organizational character.