DUSHANBE, July 1, 2016, Asia-Plus – Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov today left for the Armenian capital of Yerevan to attend a session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that will take place there on July 4.
According to the Tajik MFA information department, the ministers will discuss current problems of international and regional security, cooperation on the international arena.
The CSTO foreign ministers will also discuss the draft collective security strategy designed for the period from 2016 through 2025.
Besides, the CSTO top diplomats are expected to exchange views on issues related to combating terrorism and extremism in the light of the latest developments in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The meeting will also highlight the progress in the implementation of the decisions of the CSTO Collective Security Council on the rotation of officials in the CSTO permanent working bodies.
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.
