DUSHANBE, August 21, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon attended an informal meeting of the heads of state of member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that kicked off in the Armenian capital Yerevan on August 20, according to presidential press service.
The presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan took part at the meeting, while the president of Uzbekistan, the other CSTO member, did not attend the summit.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, as the leader of the host nation, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, as the leader of the country that currently holds the organization”s rotating presidency, made opening remarks.
The gathering was focused on issues related to emergency response to crises and measures to promote stabilization the situation in Kyrgyzstan.
The CSTO leaders substantially discussed taken and planned both collective and bilateral measures to promote further stabilization of the situation in Kyrgyzstan and considered issues related to development of an effective crisis response mechanism within the Organization area. They agreed to continue discussing these issues and instructed the CSTO Secretariat to submit appropriate draft documents to the next session of the Collective Security Council.
To ensure effective response to political crises the CSTO leaders decided to make amendments to the organization’s charter. Draft amendments are scheduled to be developed until December this year and be tabled to the agenda of the next CSTO summit that will take place in Moscow.
On August 21, meetings and discussions among the CSTO leaders proceeded at a lakeside resort in Sevan.
Belarus is expected to assume the CSTO”s rotating presidency in 2011.
