Tajik president will attend the second summit of the Central Asia plus Germany format that will take place in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astanan on September 17, an official source within the Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Asia-Plus in an interview.  

According to him, the minister of foreign affairs, presidential adviser for foreign affairs and some other high-ranking Tajik state official will accompany the president on his trip to Kazakhstan.

“It is not yet known whether Emomali Rahmon will have bilateral meetings with personal meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and heads of the Central Asian nations on the sidelines of the summit,” the source added.

The topics the German Chancellor will discuss with the top officials of the Central Asian nations are reportedly still unknown.  

Meanwhile, a statement released by international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) on September 12 says the summit aims to promote closer ties on economic, energy, and development issues.  

HRW has called on Olaf Scholz to promote human rights at the summit in Astana.  

In its statement, HRW cited persistent rights issues across the region including the “suppression of the rights to protest and express opinions, including online, jailing of activists, torture in detention, crackdowns on civil society, violence against women, impunity for abusive security forces, and a lack of free and fair elections.”

According to some sources, the second summit with the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek heads of state is expected to focus heavily on energy along with broader economic and development talks.  The leaders are also expected to discuss international sanctions on Russia.

The first summit of the Central Asia plus Germany format took place in Berlin in later September last year.  On September 29, 2023, Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosted leaders from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to discuss strengthening regional and economic cooperation.

Media reports said at the time that Olaf Scholz welcomed leaders from the five Central Asian nations for their first-ever summit, as EU member states seek to win geopolitical allies in the region.  The leaders reportedly announced after the meeting that they have agreed to establish a “strategic regional partnership” between Germany and Central Asia, and vowed to take steps to further strengthen economic ties.