DUSHANBE, October 5, Asia-Plus — A session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Дwill be held in Tajik capital on October 6.
According to the Tajik MFA, more than 20 issues have been tabled to the agenda of the Dushanbe session that will bring together the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The CSTO heads of state are expected to exchange views on a progress of implementation of interstate documents signed within the CSTO, the Collective Security Council resolutions on legal foundation for the Organization activity, as well as activity of the CSTO regarding Afghanistan.
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 will be considered at the session.
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.
In the framework of Commonwealth of Independent States the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) was signed on May 15, 1992, by Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Azerbaijan likewise signed the treaty on September 24, 1993, Georgia on December 9, 1993 and Belarus on December 31, 1993. The treaty came into effect on April 20, 1994.
The treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force. Signatories wouldn”t be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states, while an aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all.
The CST was set to last for a 5-year period unless extended. On April 2, 1999, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, signed a protocol renewing the treaty for another five year period — however Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan refused to sign and withdrew from the treaty instead (at the same time Uzbekistan joined the GUAM group, established in 1997 by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and largely seen as intending to counter Russian influence in the region).
On October 7, 2002, the six members of the CST signed a charter in Chisinau, Moldova, expanding it and renaming to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization.
During 2005, the CSTO partners have conducted some common military exercises. In 2005, Uzbekistan withdrew from GUAM and began to seek closer ties with Russia. On June 23, 2006, Vladimir Putin announced that Uzbekistan became a full-member of the CSTO.
In June 2007, Kyrgyzstan assumed the rotating CSTO presidency.
The CSTO is an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly
