DUSHANBE, April 14, 2016, Asia-Plus – The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha will visit Tajikistan from April 17-20, according to the Tajik MFA information department.
While in Dushanbe, Bordyuzha will hold talks with high-ranking Tajik state officials to discuss issues related to providing assistance to Tajikistan in strengthening its common border with Afghanistan.
The sides will also exchange views on the current situation in Afghanistan and other world’s hot spots as well as measures to strengthen fight against terrorism, extremism and other regional and international threats and challenges, the source said.
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.
