DUSHANBE
, June 21, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmonov will attend a session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that will be held in the
Belarus
capital city of
Minsk
on June 23, presidential press service reported.
Security Council Secretary Amirqul Azimov, Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov, Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev and other high-ranking Tajik state officials will accompany Rahmonov on his trip to
Belarus
, according to the source.
The CSTO summit in
Minsk
is expected to consider priorities and main directions of activity of the organization in the coming year, place and role of the CSTO in architecture of international security, prospects of cooperation with other organizations dealing with international security issues. The CSTO heads of state also will discuss a practical realization of decisions that had previously been made within the organization, as well as the organization’s opportunities to adequately address new challenges and threats.
The summit will follow meetings of the councils of the CSTO foreign and defense ministers and the committee of the CSTO security council secretaries that will be held on June 22. These meetings will consider and approve draft resolutions that will be submitted for consideration to the summit.
It is supposed that the CSTO will undergo a sweeping reform at an upcoming summit in
Minsk
to tackle a number of objectives. RIA Novosti quoted the SCTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha as saying that the reform at the June 23 Minsk meeting will mean the group, founded in 2002, will form its own peacekeeping forces, collective forces to tackle emergency situations and a number of auxiliary bodies to combat extremism and illegal migration. According to him, the CSTO will be transformed “from a military-political organization into an organization that can promptly and effectively respond to modern threats and challenges.” He said a joint exercise was scheduled for June 24 and there were plans to draw up lists of terrorist organizations operating in CSTO member countries.
The CSTO was founded in 2002 by
Armenia
,
Belarus
,
Kazakhstan
,
Kyrgyzstan
,
Russia
, and
Tajikistan
to ensure peace, preserve the territorial integrity of member countries, coordinate activities in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime, and provide immediate military assistance to a CSTO member in the event of a military threat. The organization a Collective Rapid Reaction Force with 1,500 military personnel deployed in
Central Asia
.
