CICA summit opens in Astana

ASTANA. Oct 13 (Interfax) - The 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) opened in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on Thursday.

The participants are expected to discuss major issues of cooperation and the key priorities of the CICA's activities.

The Kazakh president chairs the summit, in which the leaders of 11 countries: Azerbaijan, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan also take part.

The vice president of Vietnam, the vice president of China and five ministers also attend the summit. Belarus is participating as an observer.

In all, some 50 delegations are present at the summit.

The CICA includes 27 countries. As reported, the organization plans to admit a new member, Kuwait, at its summit in Astana.