Tajik Security Council Secretary, Abdurahim Qahhorov, yesterday met here with Nikolai Bordyuzha, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General, who arrived in Tajikistan for a working visit.
The two, in particular, discussed issues related to preparations for the CSTO Collective Security Council session and joint meetings of the CSTO defense and foreign ministries as well as security council secretaries that will take place in the Armenian capital Yerevan from October 13-14.
Qahhorov and Bordyuzha reportedly also exchanged views on problems of stability in the world and in the region, challenges posing threat to security of the CSTO member nations and threats and challenges emanating from Afghanistan.
Today, Bordyuzha is scheduled to hold talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Defense Minister Sherali Mirzo.
Meanwhile, a joint drill for units of the OCSTO’s Collective Rapid Deployment Force, dubbed Rubezh 2016 (Frontier 2016), will take place at the Edelweiss Training Center in Kyrgyzstan from October 4-7. Military units from Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, as well as units of the State Defense Committee, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State National Security Committee of Kyrgyzstan will participate in the drill.
The Collective Rapid Reaction Force is a joint combined arms task force comprising independent military units from the CSTO member states. CRRF was created in 2009 with the general purpose to counter a limited military aggression against CSTO member states, to fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.
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.
