DUSHANBE, April 14, Asia-Plus — Visiting Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha is scheduled to hold talks with Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi today afternoon to discuss issues related to prospects of further expansion of cooperation within the framework of the Organization.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Davlat Nazriyev, the head of the MFA information department, said that the talks are expected to focus on preparation of the next session of the Collective Security Council and a progress of implementation of decisions made at the Dushanbe CSTO summit that was held in the Tajik capital last October.
Today morning, the CSTO secretary general, who arrived in Tajikistan yesterday evening, already held meetings with Tajikistan’s Defense Minister Sherali Kahirulloyev and Emergencies Committee Chairman Khaybullo Latipov.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bordyuzha is scheduled to meet with President Emomali Rahmon. Before meeting with the Tajik head of state, the CSTO secretary general will hold talks with Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev, Chairman of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament), and the Security Council Secretary Amirqul Azimov.
The CSTO is the regional security organization that 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 member states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002 the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan joined the group in 2006.
