DUSHANBE, December 26, 2013, Asia-Plus — On Thursday December 26, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met here with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha, according to the Tajik president’s official website.
The sides reportedly discussed issues related to development of relations between the Organization member nations.
A special attention was given to the issue of the regional development progress and prospects after the withdrawal of international coalition forces from Afghanistan after 2014.
In this context, Rahmon and Bordyuzha reportedly underlined the necessity of providing assistance to border troops and other power-wielding structures of Tajikistan.
They also discussed a number of issues that can be discussed at the next summit of the Organization, the Tajik president’s website said.
We will recall the CSTO summit that took place in Sochi, Russia last September made a decision to draw up a joint plan to protect Tajikistan”s border with Afghanistan.
The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan that suspended its membership in 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
