DUSHANBE, October 6, Asia-Plus
– Presidents of Armenia (Robert Kocharyan), Belarus (Aleksandr Lukashenko), Kazakhstan (Nursultan Nazarbayev), Kyrgyzstan (Kurmanbek Bakiyev), Russia (Vladimir Putin), Tajikistan (Emomali Rahmon) and Uzbekistan (Islam Karimov) are participating at a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that has opened in Dushanbe.
The session is still held in a narrow composition and then it will continue its work in an enlarged format with participation of delegations of the Organization countries.
Participants at the summit are expected to discuss more than 20 issues. The meeting in Dushanbe, in particular, is reviewing a number of draft documents on collective peacekeeping mechanisms, joint efforts in the fight against terrorism, drug-trafficking and illegal migration.
Two packages of documents on legal and organizational execution of papers in the framework of the CSTO mechanism on peacekeeping activity and improvement of legal foundation for activity of the Interstate Commission for Military-Economic Cooperation are supposed to be signed by the CSTO leaders.
Draft resolutions on establishment of coordination councils of heads of migration and emergency management agencies, draft protocol on providing military and technical assistance to member nations of the Organization in case of threat of aggression, as well as draft protocol on re-equipment of the CSTO Rapid Deployment Force will be submitted for consideration and signing to the summit in Dushanbe.
According to the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha, one of the most important issues to be discussed at the summit will be resolution on restoration of Uzbekistan’s membership of the CSTO.
We will recall that CSTO foreign ministers met in Dushanbe on October 4 to address peacekeeping activities.
CSTO members also use the organization as a platform to fight terrorism and organized crime, and have pledged to provide immediate military assistance to one another in the event of an attack.
The bloc has a Collective Rapid Reaction Force deployed in Central Asia.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
