Former Soviet states to hold talks on Iraq

DUSHANBE (AFP) Apr 09, 2003
The foreign ministers of 12 former states of the Soviet Union, including Russia, are to meet on Friday in the central Asian state of Tajikistan to discuss the war in Iraq and security issues arising from it, Tajik officials said.

The foreign ministry in the Tajik capital Dushanbe said the meeting would bring together the foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose grouping which includes all the former Soviet republics except Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The talks would also focus on the US-led "war on terrorism," the ministry said.

The CIS was founded in December 1991, just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, by Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

The other members are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

SPACE.WIRE