DUSHANBE, December 22, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Collective Security Council will hold a meeting in Moscow on December 23, according to the CSTO Secretariat.
At the CSTO Collective Security Council meeting, the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan will discuss expansion of allied cooperation among the CSTO member nations and the current regional situation.
A number of important issues have reportedly been tables to the meeting’s agenda, including the crisis response system.
The CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha will report on the progress of implementation of the CSTO’s decision on rendering collective assistance to Tajikistan to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border that was adopted on September 23, 2013.
We will recall that the group agreed on September 23, 2013 to draw up a joint plan to protect Tajikistan”s common border with Afghanistan. “We will consider all possible scenarios of events, to take preventive measures. We will render additional collective assistance to Tajikistan to strengthen the Tajik-Afghan border,” Russian President Vladimir Putin noted on September 23, 2013. Putin’s remarks came in response to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, who requested help with border security from fellow CSTO member states, saying that the terrorist threat from his country’s southern neighbor was growing.
Besides, the CSTO presidents will exchange views on the current situation in the CTO area of responsibility (AoR).
The meeting will also see the handover of the Organization’s presidency from the Russian Federation to Tajikistan.
The regional security organization was initially set up in 1992 in a meeting in Tashkent and Uzbekistan once already suspended its membership in 1999. However, Tashkent returned to the CSTO again in 2006 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.
