MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - The constitutive congress of the Council of CIS Sephardic Jews uniting old Jewish communities in the Caucasus and Central Asia opened here Wednesday.

"I am convinced that the union of Sephardic Jews will promote the unification of all Jews in love and respect," said Russia's Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar.

Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar said the event "symbolized the unity of our communities in times characterized by serious contradictions."

President of the Federation of the CIS Jewish Communities Lev Levayev said there were plans to open a Sephardic center here.

"We will build a big center of Sephardic Jews in Moscow to pass down our heritage and traditions to our children," he said.

He said assimilation is a key problem for Sephardic Jews today.

"Sephardic Jews saw no assimilation 20-30 years ago, but today, we can see its sharp growth," Levayev said, attributing it to a lack of Jewish education.

Sephardic Jews appeared on the CIS space in the 8th century and managed to preserve their cultural and religious traditions to a more extent than Ashkenazi (European) Jews have.